The Fox and the Four Gods
by Star Sage
Summary: A single coin toss can change a world, for the better, and for the worse. This is a tale of one such coin toss, and how it alters the destiny of a Fox.
1. A Coin Toss

There were chances in life, odd bends of fate that caused things to go one way sometimes, and other times they went in the opposite direction. Sometimes those changes are massive, with entire armies falling in battles they rightly should have won. Other times, those changes are small, when a butterfly flaps its wings at the wrong time, causing an eye to move away, just before they would have seen the face of their one true love.

Sometimes though, a small change, can make big things happen. During an era called the Third Shinobi World War, a man was left adrift. His village, one that had been dwarfed by strong neighbors, was destroyed in an attack. The elders laid dead at his feet, the attacks fleeing into the rain, leaving the man alone to mourn. A hastily dug grave served to cover the bodies of his fellows, and he was left with a choice. One he chose to leave up to a coin.

In most times, the coin came up tails. Thus he would go north, and offer himself to the Tsuchikage. The Kage, seeing a man with a bloodlimit that might be useful as the war dragged on, took him as a mercenary, giving him many missions. These tasks he fulfilled with the strength of his heritage, cutting down swaths of enemies, crushing resistance beneath his power, blowing away whole legions, only to vanish in a flash.

The war ended, and the man was now bitter, alone, and very much old. So when an assignment came to patrol the borders of the Land of Fire, he took it. He then found a patrol from the other side a bit too far on the Rock side of the border, so he struck, slaying one of the three, and injuring another, leaving him alone against a blond haired man, who had claimed to be returning home to see the birth of his son. The man from Rock battled him, and injured him, before falling to the Yellow Flash, dying unmoruned in the forest.

The injuries he inflicted may have been something greater than most would know, as the delay kept the Yondaime from his village, and when a seal was broken, his speed wasn't what it should have been, so a great monster was able to close with the village, and many lives were sacrificed upon it's claws. A seal was made, and a life was begun that would lead the world through a war, and show all a path that was different.

But sometimes, a change can happen. In some times, the coin came up heads, and the man instead went south, his blood limit a boon to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Instead of the coldness, the man found warmth. Instead of being alone, he found a friend, and then a love. A woman who, nine years after he had arrived, had their child. Tragedies can happy in the midst of miracles though and she passed giving birth to the next generation.

Then a seal was broken. A woman in a cave far from the village cried out, and something came from within her. It's power was overwhelming. It was opposed by the Man however. He had aided the Yellow Flash of Konoha, and the two stood before the thing, staring at a mountain of red fox, which growled down at them. Both saw the hate that filled those eyes, and neither moved, as they prepared to defend their home.

"Minato!" shouted Hiro, as he leapt into the air. His feet seemed find purchase even in open sky as he moved like a red rocket, slamming hard into the paw that had been aiming for his friend, diverting it just enough that it missed.

"Are you almost done yet?!" cried out the man, as the beast he fought hopped back, its landing sending a quake through the ground they probably felt all the way back in the village.

"Not yet, this is the most complicated Seal ever cast, and it must be perfect," said the yellow haired man, as he made seal after seal with his hands, the signs of jutsu he was casting appearing in the air about him as he kept going.

"That pervert you call a master would be faster than this!" shouted the man, as he charged forward, unable to hear the response of his friend through the roar of fury that came from the Kyubi no Kitsune. The man roared right back, curling his body into a ball in the air, and beginning to spin. Out of the spin came pouring black chakra, which formed a shield of nearly impenetrable power.

The kyubi's jaws locked on that shield, the teeth digging into it, but finding no way to pierce it, the monster shook its head, tossing the man aside, who uncurled and drew his hands back. Instantly, shining white chakra came from his finger tips, the stuff forming into long blades that shone like moonlight in the sky as he bounced off a tree, and dove for the surprised tailed beast, who roared out in pain and anger as the bladed dug home.

The thing was chakra given form and flesh, but the blades were of the same make. While smaller, and only a drop in the ocean of power that flowed from within the beast, the blades still hurt it in a way few mortal techniques could, driving the thing to take to the sky, jumping so a mountain was between them, even as the man leapt backwards himself, landing and then vanishing into a red blur that stopped beside Minato atop Gamabunta's head.

"How much longer?" he said, his voice barely a whisper as his breath came in ragged gasps.

"A minute more, but I need him to be still for a moment. Can you hold him?" asked Minato, and Hiro looked at him, before staring across the valley at the Kyubi, who's red eyes now shone like furious suns.

"It will be the end of me, but then, we both knew this was our last battle," responded Hiro, and Minato could do nothing but nod at him. Idly, Hiro wished they hadn't been so brash. The pair of them, some of the strongest in the village, him with the Four Gods Blood Limit, and Minato with all his skills, earned through hours of study, had ordered everyone else back. No one else needed to meet their end today, though he doubted many who had thought they would save the village knew this would be the two's final battle.

"Then I shall see you on the other side. Let us hope our wives forgive us for entrusting our children to Sarutobi," said Minato, finishing up one last seal, causing a noise like the ringing of a great bell to echo around them. That noise was then counterpointed by a howl of pure killing intent, as the kyubi charged over the mountain towards them.

"Til we meet again," Hiro told him, and then breathed in deeply, gathering the last of his chakra to him, exhausting even the energy that kept his heart beating as he did so, but giving him enough strength for one last assault.

"Dance of the Four Gods!" he cried out as he shot forward, chakra of red, black, white, and blue bursting from every part of his body, his clothing, battle armor thick enough to turn a blade, tearing itself apart from the inside, as the man dove towards his enemy.

"Speed of the Phoenix!" he shouted, and the instant his foot touched the ground, the red chakra flared, and he was gone into a blur.

"Armor of the Tortoise!" he added, curling into a ball again, a shield of black chakra surrounding him once more. This time he slammed home hard, smashing into the monster's face, causing even it to break a tooth as the force of the impact drove it back, and the man rolled over his snout, and onto his back.

"Claws of the Tiger!" he screamed, his body telling him it was over, but his will forcing it forward, as blades of chakra leapt out of his hands, which he held at his side, his fingers pointed downwards, so the technique dug into the kyubi's back, gouging a line into it, before the man hopped from it's back, landing behind it, and forcing it to turn around to face him, putting Minato at the monster's back.

"Roar of the Dragon!" he said finally, his voice nearly giving out on him as he brought his hands to his face, and blew. A gale of wind that shredded trees came from him, and smashed into the kyubi. That thing's flesh did not yield to the wind, but even it felt the stuff ripping at its form, the distraction serving its purpose, as a great hand of chakra grabbed the kyubi from behind, surprising it, as it was dragged into the form of Minato, the seal locking it within him.

Then the pair died. Either both at once, or one and then the other, it mattered little. The pair fell, their bodies pushed beyond their limit. In Konoha, a cheer rang up, celebrating the safety of the people, even as the shinobi looked dour and grim. They would find the bodies of the pair a few minutes after they fell, to be taken back to the village and buried with all honors, heroes to their people. Few even acknowledge in the lead up to the funerals, two young boys being sent to the orphanage, two boys who's names were changed so that none would suspect their heritage, at least, for a time.


	2. The Great Cookie Caper

~Eight Years Later

There are some things that are so different because of one little coin. In many Konohas, the orphanage was full of children. Dozens of youths whose families had fallen in battle, either as brave shinobi, their blades flashing in the night, and then going dark, or as civilians, those who lived normal lives, many of them giving up those same sparks to protect their children.

In many Konohas, one little boy was different. The masters of the orphanage would never say why, but this one was the source of the children's pain and suffering. In many Konohas this boy would be shunned by the other children, who didn't doubt the words of the elders. The boy would begin to act out because of his isolation, pulling pranks, and making it those who chose not to look at him paid for their ignorance, earning himself quite the name amid the populace.

In many Konohas...this one was different though. The Fox had taken only two lives, willingly given. One had been a hero, the other a name known for power, but both were mourned by the people only so long as such things happened, tragedies, but not personal ones. The shinobi mourned longer, and sometimes, in their darkest moments, an eye would be turned to a blonde babe in the orphanage, a blade would be drawn, but then it would sheath. A sacrifice had been made, and with no blood to taint the child in their eyes, they left him alone.

So it came to pass that in this Konoha there were only two young boys at the orphanage. Oh, there were many who would pass through the door, but most found homes within a fortnight or less, as Konoha was a loving city, and would not let the children suffer long without a family. Only these two were left, for one would always be passed over, and the other could not be taken without the first, for that was what the Hokage had ordered.

"Sticky Fingers to Snatcher, do you read me?" asked a voice in the darkness.

"Snatcher here, are we clear?" came the response, from somewhere below. In the shadows cast by a strong beam of light, a form rustled, its tiny limbs unfolding from its position in the dark as it crept along, belly pressed flat against the surface, before its head came out of the darkness to look into the light.

A small boy's head was visible now. no more than eight years of age, his eyes sparkled purple, and his hair was a lustrous silver sheen that hung close cut against his head. He closed his eyes tightly against the blast of brightness that assaulted them, but after fluttering them open and shut a few times, he could see beyond, and found the hallway outside the room they were in was empty.

"Snatcher, you are free to snatch, I repeat, get them now," said the boy hanging upside down, and behind him, another form came up, soon fully bathed in the light, his body was smaller, and just a bit stockier than his companion. Though younger, he was already obviously more muscled, and many an adult said he would grow into a strong young man, sometimes with just a hint of worry in their voice.

The tiny form, bright blonde hair with spikes in it, and blue eyes that seemed like sapphires in the right light, moved with the swiftness and grace of a young ninja. His tiny hands grabbed onto the edge of a counter, and pulled his frame up it, while his partner's gaze went up and down the hallway outside. Behind him, the lookout heard the clank and clatter of dishes as they were pushed aside, before, with a near silent cry, he knew they'd struck gold.

"Yatta," said the blonde, and the silver haired boy looked back, and then motioned for him to come to the door, so they might escape. Above the pair, in the second story, a young woman moved forward, humming to herself as she cleaned, getting ready for a visit from a very important person. As she cleaned, she noticed a certain door in the sleeping quarters was open. One which she'd locked to keep two particular headaches inside today.

"UZUMAKI! YUY!" came a shout, and the pair of boys froze, the blonde with the cookie jar in his hands, the silver haired boy just standing there, before he turned to his friend and partner.

"Bolt!" he cried, leaping over the doorfames top, and landing on the ceiling. He then dashed off down the hall, soon followed by the blonde, who ran along the floor, stuffing cookie after cookie into his mouth, knowing already that their flight was pointless. Behind the two, the door to the second floor came open, and both boys stopped where they stood, staring at the woman who stood there.

"You two!" she screamed, and rushed towards them. The woman, a few years short of thirty, was faster than either boy could hope to be, and so she scooped up first the blonde, and then the silver, holding them both in her arms as she somehow got the jar of cookies away from Naruto, and stuck in the shelf as they passed.

"What have I told you two about snacking between meals?" she asked, as her arm bundles struggled to get away, the silver haired one jumping for the ceiling, focusing his chakra into his hands, while the blonde did the same, trying to get his own energy into his legs, making him faster. Of course, the one holding them was a kunoichi herself, retired but with all her skills intact. As such, she was easily able to disrupt their attempts, pushing a little of her own chakra into their bodies, and causing them both to collapse on the floor.

"Aw, man," said Naruto, as he and Heero were hauled upwards, lifted in one hand each by their ankles by the surprisingly strong matron. Of course, it was only as she rose that she noticed that they were now in the front of the orphanage, and more importantly, that her visitor had arrived.

"Oh my, Hokage Sama, I'm terribly sorry," said the former ninja, bowing, while still holding the two boys by their ankles. To their credit, both boys bowed towards the leader of the village.

"Heh, quite alright. I see your two wards are being as rambunctious as ever," said the old man, leaning down with one of his warm, grandfatherly smiles on his face.

"Indeed. These two are quite the handful, especially now that there's no one else for them to play with," said the woman, a bit of sorrow reaching into her voice. Not that she was sad to have the house mostly empty. No wars, no big disasters going on, and most families were stable enough to take on an extra mouth or two. Good times for all in Konoha, except for two little boys.

"I noticed that the young Mr. Yuy was running on the ceiling. It seems that lesson in chakra control is doing him some good," commented the old man as he helped the former kunoichi flip the two over and set them on the ground. Neither boy attempted to flee at this point, either out of respect for the old man, or perhaps because they knew if they tried the kunoichi herself would probably kill them.

"It would seem so. Only three weeks with the technique, and he can now walk on any flat surface. A few more, and I'm sure he'll be able to walk on water," said the woman, a hint of pride seeping into her voice, as she looked down at the lad, and then turned towards the blonde boy.

"This one's control is still rather lacking, but I must admit, he's already good at using his rather abundant reserves to enhance his strength," she added the last while ruffling her hand through their hair, getting affectionate grins from both boys.

"Ah, perfect. Now then, why don't you two both go upstairs for a moment, so your keeper and I might have a discussion?" asked the old man, and the two boys, showing far more respect than one might have guessed, bowed deeply, and then rushed towards the stairs, the blonde leaping up two at a time, and the silver haired one changing course so he was running on the wall instead.

"They look happy to be told to go to their rooms," remarked the Hokage as he and the woman moved themselves to a large open sitting room, the sun beaming in through a nearby window onto some pallets, on which they sat down.

"Heh, they're hoping this means I'll have forgotten about them stealing those cookies a few minutes ago, but they are sorely mistaken about that. I'll have them washing the windows on the whole house for the next week," the matron of the orphanage assured him, a rather wicked grin crossing her lips as she readjusted her kimono for better comfort, before turning to find the Hokage with a rather deep look on her face.

"What?" she asked, knowing that those sorts of expressions meant he was thinking on something she wouldn't like.

"It concerns those two, and finding a home for them," he said.

"You mean, someone is willing to take them, both?" she asked, having heard nothing of this, but finding a spark of hope in her heart for it. Of course, the old man shook his head, dousing the spark before it could grow.

"Many would take the child who bares the Blood of the Four Gods, but none would take the Fox. It's a shame really, but I know their fathers would want the two to grow up together, so I've been looking into alternatives. After all, they'll be starting the Academy next year, and as such, they need to be out amid the people," he said, and then withdrew something from his robes. The item was just a sheet of paper, but what was written on it instantly caught her eye.

"A house?" she said, looking up and down the sheet, which was a deed. It took her some few minutes to finish, and then to think of the property it represented, a small home on the edge of the city, just within the walls.

"Inheritance for Heero. His father lived here after his wife died, intending on purchasing a bigger home when his son was coming of age, but..." the Hokage trailed off, looking up towards the heavens as he did so. The matron of the orphanage just nodded.

"So, you're going to let them go to the Academy?" she asked at last, as she passed the paper back to the old man, who quickly rolled it up and placed it in his sleeves.

"They seem adamant, and it's impossible to deny they're already skilled with chakra use," he said, and she nodded. Heero was already able to maintain a wall run or a ceiling hang for minutes at a time, and Naruto...she'd seen the boy busting blocks one day, his fist glowing with chakra as he pumped more and more into it. Those two would one day be great ninja, possibly the greatest in the village.

"You do know what Naruto said his intentions are, correct?" she asked.

"He informed me the last time I was here. He wants my job, and he'll be welcome to it when the time comes," said the old man, and the woman looked at him. She was middle aged, as such things were measured, nearing the latter half of her thirties, and the old man, well, he was far older. He'd been of the age to retire since she was a girl, and when he finally had...a year was all the rest he'd been given, before the event. The years since were etched into the lines of his face, but he still seemed hard enough to do what needed to be done.

"And Heero's goal is much the same. To master the Jutsu's of his forebears, and then take them one step farther," she said, regretting again the decision that had been made without her, to give the boy his father's diary. It had been what had taught the two the chakra control techniques they were using. Barely eight years old, and the two had abilities she knew some genin would envy. It wasn't right to grow up so fast.

"Indeed. As such, they need this. Their goals require the Academy to train them, and students there, cannot be living here. I would wish it could be different, but...," he trailed off, and the matron just nodded. Suddenly, a whistling sound came to her ears, and she cursed to Kami that she'd forgotten the water. Excusing herself, she rose, rushing towards the kitchen, leaving the Sandaime to his thoughts. The Clans of Konoha would never allow an orphan who lived within the walls to learn in the Academy. Too many of them could be plants from another village, spying for their homes. No, they had to have homes in the village, even if that meant a child living alone in some tiny apartment, or in this case, two young boys in a small house.

"Here we are," said the matron as she returned, bearing a tray with a few cups and a kettle on it. The things were simple affairs of tin, but they allowed the flavor of the leaves to soak into the water as it was poured inside, allowing the two adults a moment of respite, before they spoke again.

"It would be best if they had the year before the Academy started to be adjusted, and do not think we would leave the pair alone. Kurenai has returned, and I want her to watch over the boys, seeing as she won't be leaving us any time soon," the Hokage informed her between sips of sweet tea, and the matron nearly let her surprise show on her face. Kurenai was a jonin, one of the best genjutsu users Konoha had. She was also nearly broken. Her team, it had taken a mission and returned shattered. One of her teammates dead, the other his coils destroyed, never to use chakra again.

"I would think she would need some time to recover," was all the woman said, and the Hokage nodded solemnly.

"Normally, I would agree, a few months of rest, but this is a special case. Apparently she blames herself for the mission failure, for not seeing through a genjutsu before it claimed her teammate, and requiring the other to injure himself to break. She is not to blame of course, but she does, and I think caring for two others, might help her to open up," was the only explanation that was given, as the matron nodded, wondering idly what it must have been like for the woman, to have lost so much, so suddenly, as the two adults sat there, planning out how to move the boys into their new home, and towards the next step of their lives.


	3. Showing Off

"You mean, this is ours?" it had been the first words out of both their mouths when they'd been brought to the shack. It was small, by Konoha standards. Two bedrooms, a single bath. The big difference between most civilian housing and it wasn't readily visible from outside, but once you got in, there was a door to a staircase that led down to a training room. Of course, all of that was almost a decade out of maintenance. The lock on the front door was broken, but still locked, meaning a failed entry attempt.

The windows were locked, this time with no one having tried to jimmy them open, and many of the floorboard creaked horribly as you put weight on them. The training room was full of cobwebs, and various rats among other things had chosen to make their home down there. The two boys saw this place, something that many might consider just tearing down and building it again, and they smiled. To them, this was a palace, a fortress that belonged to them alone, and they set about making their castle shine.

Naruto took the underground, Heero not wanting to get near the bugs, while Heero took care of more delicate operations, fixing a few shingles on the roof, and cleaning the cupboards and various utilities. Even better they found a machine downstairs to wash clothing, an automatic one, which the two, who remembered hours of that particular chore at the orphanage, usually when they got caught doing something, were grateful for.

All told, it took the pair the better part of a week to get the place back in order, but when they did, the place looked like a home again. The floors sparkled, the lights all turned on, save one in the bathroom that refused, and better yet, they'd found a library. Well, Heero thought it was a good thing, though Naruto felt the space could have been used for more training equipment.

"You just like to read because of that journal," complained Naruto once, not that Heero denied it. He had read his father's words many times, absorbing every iota of information, and this, the library his father had acquired, told him even more of the man. Most of the books were manuals for various techniques and jutsus, none of which the boy's could use yet due to Heero's low reserves, and Naruto's difficulties in limiting the amount of chakra he used. Others though, they were story books, tales that the young boy found fascinating as he read through them, wondering if his father had intended to read them to him.

It was two weeks after the pair had moved in that they had their first visitor. A girl visitor at that. Old, but not quite as old as the matron, she had stunning red eyes, and moved with the grace befitting a kunoichi, which instantly earned the two prospective ninja's respect. Her voice didn't hurt either, as she yelled at the two, telling them she was their new landlady. She would be checking up on them to make sure they were behaving in ways befitting Konoha, and more importantly, weren't slacking off.

She kept that promise too, coming by at least once a day after that, always insisting they have a bit of tea, made with fresh leaves, and with a single drop of honey in it, ready for her, a ritual they learned to respect after Naruto had slipped her some hot sauce instead of honey, and both of them had somehow ended up in the middle of town wearing dresses that had more frills than fabric.

She was fair, however, soon coming to view the boys with the warmth only a young woman could have with children. She taught them things, insisting on forcing Naruto to read, and getting them both to learn their numbers. More exciting though, she helped them with their training. Naruto's control made it hard for him to do more than basic exercises, but he was determined, she had to admit. Better, some exercises he excelled at.

When she'd revealed she was genjustu master, a true prodigy in the art of illusions, they'd begged until she'd started to teach them what she knew. Unfortunately, Naruto proved incapable of breaking illusions he was under, where Heero did it with ease. At least until she showed him a trick. Chakra pulse, a way to dispel any illusion, a strong burst of chakra to push away the enemy's. For most, it was a trick that left them gasping and vulnerable, for Naruto...

"Chakra Pulse!" had cried out the young boy, and then he let fly with the technique. His reserves were large, she'd known that, the kyuubi was after all, within him. But this was on a whole other level. Most pulses traveled maybe a meter, possibly two, from a jonin user. She'd heard tales of some who could take it up to ten, though it would nearly kill them. This boy, not trained yet in proper use, somehow got his to go almost a twenty, by her estimates, and only seemed winded. Heero's attempt wasn't bad either, able to gather the needed chakra easily, controling it ways most chunin would envy. The pair of them would be quite formidable when their coils developed to the point of allowing them to mold chakra for jutsu.

The pair impressed her over most of the year as well. Heero with his control, and desire to learn, and Naruto with his drive and determination. The former would look at a problem, and either solve it right away, or move on to something that would help him solve it, unlocking knowledge of a thousand small things while doing so. The latter was more direct. He would find one problem, usually the hardest he could, and hit his head against it until he beat it down. He used that approach with everything from math, to chakra control training. He even mastered tree climbing after a month of training on it.

The three of them became a unit, sometimes seen around town, but usually staying in the boys' home to work on something. People grew used to the sight of them, and it soon became common knowledge that Naruto would one day be among the most powerful Ninja of the Leaf, possibly in all the world. That gave an odd sense of pride to the people, knowing that one so young in their village could already grow so far. Heero meanwhile could almost always be seen walking on walls, and hanging from ceiling, until he collapsed from chakra exhaustion, showing the same talents his father had, making the people even prouder to know that the pair of them would be protecting the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

Months passed, summer for the boys, turned to autumn, and then to winter, and finally, at long last, to spring. The leaves became bright green, and flowers bloomed. More importantly were the spring classes. And thus one day, a pair of young boys awoke, their heads swimming with ideas of what they would find inside the building on the far edge of town, and their bodies practically screaming to be allowed to show just what they could do. With the sun just peaking over the walls of the village, a trio of figures came in sight of the Academy, two bouncing with excitement, while a third just grinned at them.

"Alright you two, you know what I expect of you, right?" said the woman leaning down so her head was at their level.

"To do perfect in all our exams," began Naruto, this task having been given to him specifically.

"To not fight, or make trouble for anyone in the school," said Heero, smirking as he remembered some of the things Naruto had planned for them to do to the teachers, only to have their plans found and burned by Kurenai a few days ago.

"And most importantly, never forget there are those of us who care for you. Being a Ninja is hard work, but we of Konoha can carry any burden, if it's borne together," she finished, and the two smiled at her while nodding.

"Hai oneesama," they said together, giving her one last hug before the three turned back towards the school.

As they got closer, finding, as she had expected, a small group of around thirty students already waiting with their teachers, she began to study faces. There was a Hyuga in the class, a girl she thought was named Hinata. She stood proud and formal, snapping at a few of the others sitting around. Most of her ire seemed to be directed at a boy with a dog, who could only be one of the Inuzuka if he was a hair, who either ignored her, or responded in a pithy statement that got him smacked. Beside them sleeping beneath a tree was another boy, who wore his black hair like a pineapple above his head. It took her a moment to remember he was one of the Nara clan.

There were two other girls standing there as well, talking and chatting in the ways only young girls could. One had pink hair, the other blonde. The latter she recognized almost instantly, she stood just like her mother, a Yamanaka. The former was probably from a civilian line, as were most of the rest. It was nice though to see a clans borne chatting so friendly with someone who wasn't. Behind them was a boy who was big enough for any two of his classmates, his girth telling any who knew that he was Akmichi, one of those capable of becoming giants.

Off to the sides, each at opposite ends were two figures she hadn't expected. The first was an Aburame, that was made quite clear by his face concealing collared jacket, and those glasses covering his eyes. The other had to be an Uchiha. He wore their crest, and none but one of them would ever wear that, otherwise they would find themselves facing summary sentencing by one of the Uciha run military police squads. They were less than kind about such things, and no one was fool enough to oppose them.

The teachers drew her eyes next. The first was one she didn't recognize, at least not by sight. His eyes though, as he turned to face her, made his identity known. Only one member of the Hyuga's clan taught at the Academy. The other was Mizuki, a long time instructor at the Academy, one of her generations best teachers. He'd applied at the place almost as soon as he'd become a chuunin, and had, after some investigating, been given the position. She wasn't ever sure she liked that man, who always seemed to have some ulterior motive, but she decided to smile at him anyway as she brought the boys to the two men.

"Hello Hizashi, Mizuki," she said, bowing respectfully towards them. Her charges, looking at her, mimicked the motion perfectly, going only a few inches deeper to show more respect towards the two teachers.

"Ah, the lovely Genjutsu Mistress. I had heard you'd adopted a pair of young lads," said Hizashi with a rather disarming smile, crouching down so he was looking the two boys in the face.

"Hey! Oneesama didn't adopt us, we live on our own," declared the blonde boy loudly, and the silver haired one nodded.

"We live in my father's old house, so we can train and prepare for the life of Ninja," he explained.

"Oh really? Well then, looks like we've got some overachievers in this lot. Ms. Kurenai, would you care to stay? We were just about to assess this crop of students before we took them inside for classes," said Mizuki, and though he was trying to sound pleasant, something about his voice made it sound like he was sizing them up to be executed.

"I'm afraid not. My own work has been clamoring for my attention, and now that the boys will have someone else to deal with them, I must get back to it. Though I do hope to get a full report when I come back," she said, looking towards Hizashi, who nodded warmly at her. The kunochi then made a single hand sign, and vanished with a whooshing sound, leaving the boys waving their hands towards where they figured she'd vanished to.

"I really wish I could do that," commented the pineapple head, as he joined the two boys standing before the teachers.

"You will be able to someday, Shikamaru. For now, everyone, line up, and come here," said Mizuki, and the children, some faster than others, obeyed. Soon standing in a ragged looking group in front of the two instructors.

"It's time to assess your skills. Now I'm sure most of you know your letters and your numbers, right?" asked the group, and got a few nods, some stronger than others.

"Good, anyone who doesn't know those at least, will once we get you into class. For now though, we want to see how good you are at chakra molding. Some of you, I'm sure, can already preform a few basic techniques, but we, as teachers, need to see what we have to work with," he told them, motioning towards an open training area just behind the school, and then waving his hand so that the children would follow. They did so, some seeming excited by the prospect of showing off what they could do, others looking around nervously.

"Alright, who has a technique already learned?" he asked, and several hands shot up, Hizashi doing a quick count.

"You seven, step forward," he said at last, weeding using his byakugan to find those who had chakra reserves enough to do something without exhausting themselves.

"So, who would like to go first?" asked Mizuki, and Naruto instantly stepped forward.

"Okay, this is one Onee Kurenai taught me to deal with genjutsu," he declared, and then began to strain. The two teachers, having expected something related to that, were then surprised as, instead of doing hand seals, the boy just crouched. It took them only seconds to realize what was going on, as chakra visibly began to come out of the boy, like blue fire.

"Hinata! Byakugan off!" shouted Hizashi, turning his own eyes back to normal, and grateful to see his niece do the same, because a second later, Naruto released his technique.

"Chakra Pulse!" he shouted, and a wave of blue chakra swept over everyone present. The second it passed, Hizashi reactivated his byakugan, wanting to get a good read of it, but was startled as the glass like wall just kept going, reaching almost fifty meters before petering out. Expecting to turn back and find Naruto dead, he was surprised to see the boy only collapsed in a heap, breathing hard, and pouring sweat, but otherwise fine.

"Troublesome," was the first word to be heard, as Shikamaru seemed to recover fastest from what they saw. The two teachers meanwhile, looked at each other. Both had known Naruto contained the kyuubi, any adult Ninja of Konoha did, but this? This was a feat that they would never have expected of one so young, and worse, both knew he would be able to go farther.

"Excellent work, Naruto," said Mizuki as he recovered, smiling at the boy, "Of course, it goes without saying, anyone seen trying to copy the techniques we see today without an instructor helping is expelled."

That statement seemed to dampen some spirits, as the children, those able to already mold chakra if not use it in jutsus, had just seen a technique that was simple. Of course, none of them realized that a pulse going even a few inches from their bodies would probably kill them. Worse, Naruto recovered quickly, getting back on his feet and smiling at the crowd.

"Back to the class. Now, who wants to go next?" he asked, and the Nara boy stepped up, obviously wanting to get this over with. His technique was their clan specialty, where he stretched his shadow out to grab Hizashi, forcing the two of them to move to his body, before releasing him. Of course, his reasons for wanting to go quickly was revealed, as he went to the group already pestering Naruto, and added his own questions to it. This meant that Choji, who enlarged his fist to five times its normal size and cracked a training log, only got a few people watching him. He didn't seem to mind, as he went right back to munching on a bag of chips, while watching the others.

The Aburame boy went next, his bugs pouring out of his suit, and causing the training log Choji had cracked, was reduced to dust in a few seconds. It also, for some reason, caused Heero to give the boy a wide berth as he walked back towards the group of students. That left only Sasuke, Heero, and Hinata to show their stuff. After both boys begged off, Hinata called them both bakas and decided to demonstrate her clan's taijutsu, having her uncle step forward, and do a small series of katas with him, arms and legs moving into blurs as the two got into their grooves.

"Naruto, what do you think I should do?" asked Heero, as the demonstration of the two Hyugas went on.

"Just do that juggling trick you should nee-san last month. It impressed her, didn't it?"suggested the blonde, and Heero nodded thoughtfully, as he got back to where Sasuke was standing, just as the two white eyed fighters broke apart, bowing deeply towards Mizuki.

"Excellent, showing, both of you. Alright, who wants to go last, and who's up next?" asked the teacher, and Sasuke stepped backwards, indicating his desire to go last, while Heero stepped forward, and then looked around.

"Um, can we go to that stream over there?" he asked, pointing to a small stream that ran through the training ground for water type jutsu training. The two teachers, curious what the silver haired boy had planned, acquiesced, taking the whole group to the stream, and then staring with interest as the boy took off his shoes, and stepped into the water. Well, they had expected him to step into it, to show off some water jutsu. Instead he stepped on it, demonstrating a level of control that most genin would envy as he made his way to the middle of the stream.

"Now, deep breathe, focus, and..." as he spoke, he took in as much air as his lung would hold, and then did something that surprised the teachers. He splashed one foot through the water. It was a neat technique, infusing the sole of his foot with enough chakra that it went down into the liquid, without causing the other to lose its hold. More than that though, the splashed water sailed far higher than it should, arcing over his head, and then landing in his hand, forming into a sphere that he tossed between his hands.

"Incredible," said one of the two teachers, both surprised by the showing this year. Naruto's pulse, Choji's growth, Shino's bugs, Shikamaru's shadows, Hinata's byakugan, and now this. Better yet, the boy added a sphere to his juggling, without lose a drop to the first, then a third orb joined them, and finally a fourth, all going in a circle in front of the boy.

"Now do the colors thing!" shouted Naruto, the two teachers wondering what he was talking about. They only wondered for a moment though, as one of the orbs fell into Heero's right hand, the tips of his fingers brushing against it, leaving streaks of glowing white chakra in the liquid. When he tossed it aside, it was almost fully white, and the second reached the hand now, turning black as midnight as he infused chakra into that. Finally he added red, then blue to the other two, creating a spinning wheel of colored orbs in front of him, until he suddenly jerked at something, his body going ridged, and everything falling apart, him splashing down into the stream.

Instantly Mizuki reacted, holding out his arm to keep the students back, while Hizashi bolted forward, grabbing the boy, expecting to find him exhausted of chakra after the display. Instead he was reaching around behind his back, grabbing at something, that Hizashi finally plucked off him. One of the kikai insects, which he let return to Shino as he set Heero down. Instantly, the soaking wet boy, stopping on the ground hard enough that his steps could be heard, marched up to the Aburame boy, and held at his finger accusingly.

"Keep! Your bugs! Off me!" he declared, before stalking off towards a tree and walking up it like it was nothing, finally stopping on a wide branch and then dropped into a meditative stance upside down. The eyes of both the teachers, and Shino went from Heero, to Naruto, who grinned and scratched at the back of his head embarrassed.

"Yeah, Heero has this thing with bugs. He doesn't like them," said Naruto.

"At all!" shouted the boy in question, without even breaking his stance. The two teachers looked at each other, and then shook their heads. It was a quirk some people had they knew, but to have such a reaction, well, it was disappointing.

"Impressive. Most people cannot sense a kikai," said Shino, before returning to the rest of the group, a statement that the two adults realized was correct. Most people never even knew the bug was there, thanks to chakra and pheromones from the thing. Someone who could sense them like that might have some useful skills later.

"Alright, well now, Sasuke, you're next," said Hizashi. The Uchiha nodded, then walked a bit away from everyone, standing in the center of the training area. The two teachers watched as Sasuke, brother of Itachi, leaned back his head, held his fist to his mouth, and breathed into it. The chakra in his breath and on his skin sparked against each other, and within a heartbeat, a fireball, almost a good meter wide, sprouted in the air above him, sailing high, and then fizzling out. He held it for almost a full ten seconds before his chakra ran out, and he started to sway.

"Fantastic work, Sasuke," Mizuki said this while rushing to the boy's side, helping him stand up as he walked him back over to where the other kids were, letting him set down, and then coming to the front with Hizashi.

"I want to thank everyone who stepped forward today, and know that just because you weren't showing off today doesn't mean you won't ever get the chance to show your skills. Combat practice is once a week after all. Now then, all of you, follow me, and we'll take a break from showing off your physical skills, and get to work on the mental ones," as he finished, Hizashi heard the usual groans from the students. Most would come to welcome the rest that the classroom allowed, but for now, he took them into the Academy building, letting Mizuki run towards their shared office to send off some reports about the morning.

"Students, this will be the class you're assigned. Most of you will rotate with other teachers, but for many of you, this will be your sensei for the next few years. I hope you learn to respect him as much a the rest of the staff does, and remember. Goof off on him at your own risk, because this teacher sees everything," the byakugan user smirked at this, and opened the door to find the teacher in question just finishing sorting through the papers. He turned towards the door, his red eyes shining.

"Ah, Hizashi, I take it this is the group responsible for that pulse that just happened?" asked the young man, who looked barely a decade older than the students.

"Indeed. We're going to be submitting our report on this morning's activities to the Hokage later today. Would you like it if a copy found it's way onto your desk?" offered the man, as the students, seeing the pair of older men talk, began to file into their seats.

"That would be nice," he responded with a warm smirk, Hizashi then left the room, closing the door behind him, and leaving the students with their new teacher.

"Alright class, I think some of you in this room might know me," he said this while looking to towards the seat Sasuke had taken in the back. "But for those of you who don't, my name is Uchiha Itachi, and I'll be your teacher for the next few years, or at least until you die."


	4. Classes Begin

The next few days were spent in the classroom, as Itachi tested his students. Sadly, this mostly involved actual paper tests, finding out what they knew of history, math, and even a bit of science surprisingly. The questions were designed with stopping points in mind, to see who knew what, and then post the results on the chalkboard. Each subject, from History to Spelling was listed, with the top three in each field finding their names written under them.

"Alright class. This is how the rest of this year will work. I have on this board, the names of everyone in the class," upon saying that, he motioned for another board to be wheeled in by one of the other students.

"Now then, let's see," Itachi took the next several minutes to put marks under every name that appeared on the test results. When he was done, it was clear that Hinata was out ahead, with her part of the board full of marks, while the closest behind her, Sakura, had less than half as many.

"Alright, that looks to be it. Before I continue, might I ask you children how many of you know the name Hatake Kakashi?" he said, turning to face them. A few hands shot up, while others just looked around, the name sounding familiar to some of them, but not enough to draw a face from their memories.

"Ah, so a few of you have then. Excellent. For those who don't know, Kakashi is the leader of Anbu Black Ops," Itachi let that fact hang in the air, and to his amusement every member of the class got wide eyed. Everyone in Konoha knew the name Anbu, and knew that it was the elite, the best of the best in the ninja world.

"Heh, it seems all of you know what Anbu is, but for those with any doubts, Anbu is an organization made of the best jonin and chunin in the village, and to be their leader is to be only one step below the Hokage in terms of power. Many even believe Kakashi is stronger in some respects, as he is the known by another name I'm sure many of you have heard, the Copy Cat Ninja," this fact was out of his mouth for an instant before it drew he desired reactions. As he'd expected, with most of his class coming from known clans, they all knew that title, and knew it's bearer's reputation.

"You many now be wondering why I bring that name up. Truth is, I asked Kakashi for a favor. You see, he and I are old friends, and he knows how hard it is to get you kids to focus, so he came up with a creative idea," Itachi accompanied this with a flaring motion of his arm, gesturing to the board behind him.

"Every month, during class, I shall take note of the best scores in every subject. First place will earn you three points, second two, and finally third will earn a single point. At the end of the lessons, I shall total up your scores, and the winner will be able to request some extra education, namely Hatake Kakashi shall impart on you one his thousand techniques," that news stunned everyone, as their minds went to all the rumors they'd heard. Kakashi could level mountains, and turn back rivers. Once he even walked out into a hurricane, and with a single jutsu, made the wind stop. These were the stories told about the man with the Sharingan Eye, the only non-Uchiha to have one.

"Of course, just to damp your wild imaginations, we, myself and Kakashi, will be working up a list of ten for the winner to select from, techniques we believe they could use. So don't get your hopes up on some massive thunder jutsu that can crack mountains. That doesn't mean they won't be intense, however, far beyond those techniques normally taught to young people," this was said with a knowing smirk, seeing the wildly varying fire behind those tiny eyes, going down to almost nothing, to becoming roaring fires as he finished. Many instantly cracked open their books and began skimming them, absorbing facts, dates, and formula like tiny computers, something that made their teacher laugh to himself as he took his seat.

Not that that was the end of the surprises, as the next day was given over to combat training. Every student was given a number, and set in a line. A mini tournament then commenced, with everyone told to show off their best taijutsu. One might have expected Hinata, a member of a clan famous for their Gentle Fist technique, who had already gotten to show off a bit of it, to be the best in the class. She would have been too, if the taijutsu trainer, Hizashi, hadn't expressly forbidden chakra use during the fights, claiming he wanted to see how they did without first, before he let them give it their all.

"Excellent work, Mr. Uchiha," said the white eyed man, as another opponent fell to the red eyed boy. His seventh consecutive win. Naruto was up next though.

"Enjoy the taste of victory while it lasts, because it's about to turn sour in your mouth!" declared the blonde, reading off a note that Heero had given him.

"Alright then, let's make this quick," was the only response Sasuke gave, dropping into a fighting stance, with a cocky smirk on his face. Naruto, either showing his own confidence, or his recklessness, charged right at the Uchiha boy. Of course, he'd been training the last year with a master of misdirection, and used those skills well, ducking at the last minute into a slide, something the Uchiha's stance gave little protection against.

The pair then fought in earnest, as Sasuke, surprised, but not daunted, kicked off the ground lightly, intending on landing on Naruto hard as he passed beneath him. Before he got close enough though, the blonde boy spun on one hand, changing his slide to the side, as he flared out his legs. A scissoring motion caught Sasuke's feet as they landed, and with a twist, he was put face down on the mat, with Naruto quickly rolling over on top of him.

"Not bad, baka," was Sasuke's response, as he did something with arms, rotating them in a very quick motion so that Naruto was forced to back off enough to let Sasuke break free, the red eyed boy coming back to his feet, and dropping again into a fighting stance. Naruto, screaming in frustration as they should have been game, drew himself back into a similar looking stance, his feet placed closer together though.

Sasuke saw this, and realized it gave him a slight advantage, as he moved forward, chambering a kick just so that he could knock the other boy off balance. Naruto caught the kick, however, using his elbow in just such a way that it smacked hard into the Uchiha's ankle, the pair of them crying out with their shared pain, but their stances allowing Naruto to spin forward with his other foot, clipping Sasuke on the side of his head with it, and sending him flying. When he came to rest off the mat, and out, he looked around in shock, and then started to laugh.

"And I thought this was going to be a boring school year," he said, and rose to his feet, shakily, but still, and then bowed to Naruto, who returned the gesture of respect, before going to the center of the mat, to keep the fights going.

The rest of the matches proved no where near as exciting, with most students knowing only basic katas, or maybe a few from their families styles. In the end, the hierarchy was established. Sasuke was at the top, with seven wins, and Hinata right behind with six. Naruto was in the middle, having lost to his second opponent, only having the single win under his belt. Heero lacked even that, losing to Sakura in his fight with the pink haired kunoichi in training. So the class was ranked, from strongest, to weakest.

The next week was spent with Mizuki, learning the fine arts of Ninjutsu. Everyone paid rapt attention in that class, even those who probably already knew the basic seals and techniques from family members. Most were disappointed that the first lesson was on a simple chakra technique, something like Naruto's chakra pulse, but far easier for those with less of a reserve. This technique, requiring only a single Monkey seal, was simply a way of measuring how much chakra the students had, as their bodies flared out with the stuff.

"Good, good, next," said Mizuki as he wrote down something on his clipboard. The student had flared a good three inches, and held it for a full minute. That was a good reserve for her age, and Sakura smiled as she joined Ino, who'd only had slightly less. Next up was Hinata, who bowed to the teacher, as she made the handsign, and her chakra flared. This time it was almost a good foot out from her body, like a blue fireball engulfing her. She then proceeded to hold that for the required minute, and when she released, she looked winded, but not exhausted, showing she might have actually been holding back a little.

"I would expect nothing less from the Hyuga heir," said the teacher with a smirk, bowing his head towards her. Hinata, finally getting a smile out of her rather chiseled face, bowed back. She then ran over to the rest of the class, many of whom began questioning her, asking her for tips on training chakra reserves and the like.

"Okay, Sasuke, show us what you can do," asked Mizuki, and the Uchiha looked from Hinata to the teacher, before nodding, and then doing the handsign. His flare was almost twice what Hinata's had been, the charka pouring from his body in a bright red stream, before petering out just as the minute ended, and the boy was driven to his knees, sweat pouring down his body. Obviously, he had been trying to show up the Hyuga heir, but still, Mizuki whistled. This crop of students was quite a bit better than any of the years he'd been here.

"I will have to remind you, Mr. Uchiha, that this was supposed to only be what you thought you could handle. We want to train you here, not kill you. Still, impressive," he admitted, being rewarded with a warm smile from the boy, who joined the others on the side of the class room, conversation redoubling as both he and Hinata were pestered for training tips. The next up turned out to be the blonde haired Uzumaki, whom Mizuki just shook his head at.

"No need, Naruto. We saw what you could do with that pulse at the beginning. So why don't you go to the stand with the class?" he told the boy, who was already doing the handsign. Mizuki, even if the students couldn't, already felt the chakra surging inside Naruto from just that simple motion. It wouldn't due to have him show up those from high ranking clans. More importantly, he didn't want any of the students to kill themselves trying to one up him. Naruto, looking disappointed, walked towards the rest of the class, but then joined in with them in asking what sort of training the Hyuga heir had been through.

"Okay, Mr. Yuy, you're up," he told the silver haired boy, who walked next to him, and then dropped into a fighting stance for some reason. He then went through an odd looking handsign, something like reverse snake, but with the thumb extended as well, before going to the required Monkey seal. Mizuki found that odd, but then went wide eyed as he had to retreat from the chakra flare, which extended a good meter and a half from the boy's body, shining white power flowing from him. Obviously Heero, whom Mizuki knew was constantly running on walls in the village, had built up quite the chakra reserve, but still, this was quite a bit more than he would have expected.

The minute passed, and Heero stood there, getting a few looks from the various students, while Mizuki just stared, finally looking down at his clipboard and marking off what he thought the boy's chakra reserves were. Naruto's of course, had an infinity symbol next to it, but Heero's got a number more than three times that of Sasuke's, as the boy barely looked fazed by what he'd done, either having been holding back on purpose, or instinctively somehow. That meant his actual reserve had to be quite a bit higher than even what he'd shown.

"Excellent work," was all he said, as the boy joined his brother on the other side of the class, where many questions were directed at him. He heard Heero start giving the usual explanation for tree walking, and idly Mizuki wondered how many of his students would be running on walls and water before the end of the year. Of course, he still had the rest of the class to do, and after a few more students of more average reserves, he got down to the business of teaching them how to be true ninja.


	5. Learning

"Freedom!" came the cry from the boy running on all fours, the puppy on his back clinging tightly to him as he ran off into the distance. The group behind him, either smiling after him, or seemingly embarrassed to be even distantly associated with him, followed as a much more leisurely pace.

"Baka," said Ino as she and Sakura walked together, their steps almost in perfect unison, and their stances similarly slouched, looking like they'd had their life force drained out of them.

"You said it. How does he have so much energy left?" asked Sakura, as she stretched her arms out, getting a rather satisfying series of pops from her fingers.

"He got every answer wrong, and just spent the time we were supposed to be testing playing with his puppy," said Hinata, as she came up on the pair. They then began the usual female game of comparing notes on the test, discussing who got what right and the like.

"I can't believe they remember all that. I barely remember what I wrote for my name," said Choji as he opened another bag of chips, stuffing a handful of them in his mouth as he walked.

"That's because you're giving up too soon. This was the last test before Kakashi's prize is handed out, and everyone else just stopped trying," said Naruto, as he and Heero walked together.

"Not like anyone is even close to Hinata, anyway. She's going to win this year's prize, but Itachi-kun said you can't win twice, and that means next year is all mine," proclaimed Sasuke, smirking at the others.

"This years isn't over yet. We have a chance. A slim one. If she got every answer wrong, and we got every answer right, on this test, one of us could get that training session," said Heero, pulling a sheet out marked with the points for the year, and with the additions and subtractions for the final.

"A troublesome thought. Do you really think she'd miss those questions just to give you two a chance?" asked Shikimaru as he brought up the rear.

"No, not really. But a one in a million chance, is still a chance," admitted Heero.

"See, we've still got it. Now, who's up for getting some of the best food in Konoha?" asked Naruto.

"Since when did my mom start cooking for you?" asked Choji between mouthfuls.

"He means that ramen place he likes so much. Sorry, but I've got better food waiting for me at home. Besides, Itachi and dad said I needed to go straight home after the test. Later Bakas!" shouted Sasuke, before leaping upwards onto a rooftop, and then running towards the Uchiha district.

"I am afraid my father made a similar request for me to report my expected results. If you're free tomorrow, however, I'll try to make some time," said Hinata, as she turned from the group at the next intersection, going towards her home.

"Likewise. Sometimes parents can be so troublesome," said the pineapple headed boy as he turned down the other road. Choji left next, followed by Ino and Sakura, who were going to the Yamanaka compound for post semester celebrations together.

"I see. My own progenitors have not made a similar request of myself. Would it be alright if I accept the invitation?" asked Shino, using his finger to push his glasses up his nose.

"Um, what?" asked Naruto.

"He means he doesn't have to rush home to his parents, and it would be a pleasure," said Heero, and Naruto nodded. Heero and Shino were...interesting. Heero never stood close to the kikai user, but he did seem to be one of the few who would talk to him regularly. The rest of the class either ignored him, or at most, involved him only when they were doing a group activity.

"Then let's go!" shouted Naruto, who bounded onto the nearby building. Heero and Shino looked at each other before following, Heero running along walls, while Shino just seemed to fly, his soles barely touching ground before leaping off again. With that sort of speed, the three of them made it to Ramen Ichiraku within moments, slamming into the seats by the counter one right after the other.

"Hey, Teuchi! You there?" cried out Naruto as he spun himself to a stop in his seat. The other two were much more gentle, slipping inside almost silently compared to the boy in bright orange.

"Heh, well hello Naruto, Heero, and...Shino, wasn't it?" asked the man behind the counter as he came out, holding a large bowl in his hands.

"Hai, Mr. Teuchi," said Shino, bowing his head a little towards the man.

"Excellent. Well, the broth is boiling now, so it'll be just a minute before I can bring out the noodles. So why don't we shoot the breeze a little first?" asked the man as he set the bowl down on the counter in front of him.

"Sure," said Naruto.

"I hear you boys just finished your first year at the Academy. All on your way to being fine Ninja then, huh?" he asked this with a smile, as he settled himself down onto a stool behind the counter, making him a good head taller than the boys.

"Indeed. One year of three completed. Two years remain until we can take the test for genin," said Shino.

"What about those early tests Mizuki was talking about? Couldn't we take those before the next semester, and then graduate this year?" asked Naruto.

"We could, but I doubt it would do us any good. If you do that, you'd be with those guys in E class, or maybe D class if you did it next year. Those guys are way better than us with jutsus," said Heero, remembering the times their class had been invited to look on the older students training.

They knew a few jutsus now, mostly sticking with the basic ones like kawarimi and henge, body replacement and disguise. Those had taken them months to master, but now, all of the kids in class, a good twenty-three of the original thirty-seven, could preform the techniques with some degree of regularity.

"Yeah, I saw that one guy, Hinata's brother or whatever, doing kawarimi five times in a row," admitted Naruto.

"Neji, and he is Hinata's cousin, and Hizashi's son," corrected Shino. Before more could be said, a loud ringing sound came from the back of the stand, causing Teuchi to rush back. When he got the water off the boil, he called out for the boys orders, and in a short amount of time, all three found bowls in front of them.

Speech stopped for a time as the trio ate, Teuchi smiling as the boys seemed to enjoy his ramen. It took them a few minutes to finish the food, Naruto slurping up the last bits of broth from his bowl, while Shino ate much more quietly, seemingly taking in the ramen a noodle at a time, leaving a few pieces on the counter, where his bugs ate it. Heero meanwhile ate with a more normal flare, not slurping it down, but just eating, finishing his off last, and setting the bowl in front of him.

"So, do you two truly believe you have a chance at acquiring the prize?" asked Shino, as he let the bugs crawl back up his sleeve, while Teuchi collected the bowls, taking them to the back to wash them out.

"It's possible. Not likely, but thanks to the studying Naruto and I have been doing, we've got the second and third highest scores in the class," said Heero. Most of the class had let their studies lag a bit, sometimes not turning in all the assignments, or just goofing off during tests. They all still fought their best during actual practice, either taijutsu or ninjutsu, but few of them felt the need to push themselves, with the prize being so far out of reach.

As such, Naruto and Heero, who still wanted that prize, worked for it. Heero studied every scrap of information he could, learning the names of all the Kages of every village, and able to rattle off the rice production of the Land of Grass with only a moments thought. His scores in such things proved his studying worth it, as he regularly came in second on tests of memory and knowledge, only losing out to the Hyuga heiress.

Naruto was the surprising one, though. He had a head for numbers that would have made anyone in the regular civilian school's envious. He could look at a word problem on a sheet, telling you where a target was, and what supplies you had, and come up with a plan of attack that maximized resources. Better, in the tests on practical traps, he'd been top of the class, even beating Hinata in that one.

Together, they'd maintained their status as two of the smarter students. Of course, their physical exams were a different story. Naruto was good with taijutsu, but his style left something to be desired. He could do each move of their studies individually well, chambering a kick perfectly, timing and executing a block that would stop even a powerful blow. It was bringing them together that he had trouble with, either failing to take advantage of openings, or worse, leaving himself open to a counter to any move he made. He had an advantage of stamina though, and rarely stayed down long, usually just throwing himself into the fight until his opponent fell down, exhausted.

Heero was a different story. He was sitting average with his taijutsu, able to regularly throw his opponents from the ring. But if it came to a full fight, when Hizashi let them all use their jutsus and family techniques, he almost always lost. Naruto at least powered through, either tanking hits that would fell any of his classmates, or letting them knock him around, then recovering quicker than they could. Heero failed at that, always. He could dodge decently, and was good with basic moves, but as soon as Hinata activated her Byakugan, or Ino started with that mind technique of her's, he was always down and out.

"Then I shall wish you both good luck," was all Shino said before casually strolling down the street towards his family compound. Naruto and Heero looked at each other at that point, then realized that Shino had failed to pay for his meal, as Teuchi asked for money. Both of them groaned at that, but paid out of their limited funds, before starting for home themselves. Once there, they trained a bit, watched some shows on TV about people in tight jumpsuits and hard helmets fighting obviously fake monsters, and then went to bed.

The next day they found themselves in class, staring at the board as Itachi rambled on and on about the various things their tests had demonstrated. Namely that some of them just weren't cut out for the life of Ninjitsu, and asked, politely, that three of the remaining students leave. The three, some of the lowest scores in the class, did so, thanking Itachi for the year of study he had given them, with Itachi noting that while they might never be ninja, they were still citizens of the Leaf, and that came with a pride all its own.

"And now, I believe it is time to announce the winner of our little contest," said Itachi with a smile as he turned to face the remaining score of students. Beside him stood the board on which the points had been tallied. Hinata's of course, had the most, by far. Heero and Naruto were leading the pack behind her, with Sakura being behind them. In last place was, surprisingly, Shikamaru, who lost even to Kiba, who had one mark under his name for his third place spots during a math test which have the class had just skipped.

"Of course, this final, as I said before we started, will be worth ten points, which should tip the balance a bit," as he said this, everyone saw the paper he turned to first was Hinata's, and as predicted, he marked down all ten points for her, putting her well out of reach of any of her classmates.

"Well now, I suppose there isn't much use in marking down the rest of this. If you'd care to come out now?" he said this to the room at large, and every student looked around, wondering what he was talking about, only to all be surprised as a man just sort of appeared beside their teacher, reading from an odd colored book, and standing there like he had been there all along.

"So, did you find someone worthy to pass on my skills to, Itachi-kun?" asked the man in a sing-song voice, lowering the book as he spoke. Behind the book was a mask, obscuring his face. In fact, the only thing anyone could see of him was his eye, a thing of near black that pierced through the classroom, staring into their souls.

"I might have, Hinata, if you will come forward?" asked Itachi, and dutifully, the Hyuga heir rose from her seat and came to stand before her teacher, and the man running Anbu.

"Thank you, Sensei, but I must decline this honor. My father has insisted that, as the heir to the Hyuga clan, it would be improper of me to deny the learning of a great technique from Kakashi-san to my fellow students. He insists that I allow one of them to take this, and he will instead be instructing me over the break on one of our clan's great techniques," she said this all with a formal bow, showing respect to the two men, before walking up to her seat again, and then sitting down. The class, stunned for a moment, turned towards the two older men for direction.

"~sigh~And here I spent all night coming up with a list of techniques a Dojutsu user would find useful," said Kakashi, pulling out a piece of paper from a pocket on his vest. He then made a single handsign, and the paper, flew from his hand, and burst into spectacular multicolored flames, impressing the class, and distracting them as Itachi went back to the board, and pulled out the tests again, quickly going over them to tally up points in his head.

"Hmm, Kakashi?" he said at last, gesturing for the Anbu captain to come towards him. The teacher made a single handsign, and the two were suddenly encased in a white sphere, one that no sound could penetrate, and no eye could pierce, leaving the students to their own devices.

"Are you crazy?! They just offered you one of Kakashi's techniques, and you turn it down?" demanded Ino, spinning her her seat to face the white eyed girl.

"My father has said, and I will obey. Besides, he's not wrong. Our clan has many techniques that I don't know myself, and they'll be more easily incorporated into my Gentle Fist style than some random one that Kakashi happened to pick up on a mission," the matter of fact response got a few nods from the class, who all turned back towards each other. Everyone was just about to start wondering who would win the prize, when the white sphere popped like a soap bubble, and the two men looked towards the class.

"Heero, Naruto, would you two come up here?" asked Itachi, and the two boys turned back towards the class again, before Naruto bounded towards the front of the room, leaping over desks to come to a halt near where the teachers stood. Heero, either showing composure, or just not having the same boundless energy, took the steps down to the teacher's level, and then bowed towards him.

"Hai, sensei?" asked Heero.

"After a great deal of number crunching, it came to my attention that the two of you have tied for first place in the class room. Normally, I would now require you to do some form of competition to determine an overall winner, but Kakashi..." he left that hanging as he motioned for the one eyed man to continue.

"After much debate, a coin flip, I have decided that I can teach both of you one technique. Since it will take me most of the night to come up with a list of appropriate techniques though, I'll meet you at your house tomorrow, say around eight in the morning?" said the man, and both boys eagerly nodded, their heads swimming with fantasies of the abilities they would soon wield against their classmates, while everyone else in the room was staring daggers at them, for having swiped the prize at the last minute. All except Hinata, who wore a small smile on her face.


	6. Prize

"ARGH! Where is he?!" demanded the blonde boy wearing his orange uniform. His hands rubbed back and forth through his hair as he shouted his frustration at the sky, and then effortlessly flicked a kunai into his hand, hurling it at a nearby training log, lodging the projectile deeper into the wood than his light frame would reasonably allow.

"No idea," said Heero, trying to keep his voice level as he sat in the corner of their training room, hanging off the ceiling in a crossed legs position. He was, if one looked closely, only being supported by a single toe, which shone slightly with glowing chakra in the nail.

"ARGH!" he shouted again, and pulled the kunai out, before proceeding to launch into an actually rather expert routine against the offending log. If he'd ever done that in training, he would have destroyed even Hinata and Sasuke without much trouble. Luckily, he didn't think hard enough about that, and instead was rewarded with a cracking sound as the log split in two.

The pair of them had been down there since waking up at six in the morning, getting ready for their meeting with Kakashi. It was now a little past eleven, and though they'd been listening the whole time for their doorbell, and making sojourns to front door every few minutes or so, nothing had been seen of him.

"Do you think he reneged on his promise?" asked Naruto, his breath coming out in huffs, this being the fifth log he'd destroyed since eight o'clock.

"Doubtful. Itachi would never have promised us something that he didn't intend to deliver on, and he seemed to know Kakashi quite well, considering how the Copy Cat addressed him in class," said Heero as he let himself fall from the ceiling, rolling as he hit the ground, and then popping back up to his feet. The two boys, covered with sweat from their work outs, decided to go up to the ground floor and wait out front again.

The two were just climbing the stairs, when the doorbell rang, and they looked at each other in shock. They then started tripping over their own feet to be the first to get the door, the pair arriving there almost within the same heartbeat, and quickly throwing open the door to reveal not one, not two, but three people standing there.

"Hello boys, have you been good?" asked a feminine voice, which caused both boys to whoop with excitement, ignoring the other two despite their frustration with the late arrival, and instead pounce on Kurenai, who caught both boys in her arms, and hugged them close.

"Oneesan!" they shouted together, and the three just stood there, the woman basking in the love that flowed from the pair, before finally they all got to their feet and just looked at each other.

"Where have you been?" asked Naruto after a few seconds of silence.

"On a mission, which is something you'll learn more of when you've grown up a little. For now, just know that I've gotten copies of all of Itachi's reports about you, and I want you to know, I'm proud of both of you," she told them, gesturing towards Itachi, who smiled down at the boys.

"Indeed, a fine pair of young ninja here. You raised them well, Kurenai," said Itachi, which got rather full of themselves grins from both boys, before the third member of the party spoke up.

"Ah, touching Itachi-kun. I didn't know you cared about anyone except that little brother of yours," said Kakashi, earning a rather wicked glance from Itachi, one that passed right over the boys' heads.

"You're late!" accused Heero suddenly, pointing a finger straight at the one eyed man, who then mimicked the motion, pointing a finger at himself.

"Me? Late? Never, I arrive exactly when I intend to," said the one eyed ninja to defend himself.

"You did say in class that you would be here at eight in the morning. If Kurenai hadn't asked me to seek you out, I think it would have taken you another hour to arrive," responded Itachi.

"Ridiculous lies and slander. I said I would be here at ten, not eight," said Kakashi with a childlike glint in that eye of his, as well as a smile beneath his mask.

"Need I remind you that it is now past eleven, and approaching midday?" said Kurenai, causing that grin to deflate a little, before he slapped his hands together, and then rubbed his palms against each other.

"Change of subject. Who's ready to learn a technique from me?" he said, leaning down towards the two boys, who looked from each other, towards their big sister and teacher, and then back to Kakashi.

"We forgive your tardiness," said the two graciously, getting Kakashi to just stare at them, while Itachi and Kurenai took a moment to stare at the back of his head, and then laugh as a single drop of sweat was visibly sliding down the side of his mask.

"I believe the boys have you pegged, Kakashi," said Itachi, as he motioned for the pair of them to join the adults in the yard. Soon, all five were standing there, the boys looking expectantly towards Kakashi.

"Now then, your oneesan and I had a long discussion about the prize, and after much debate-" "After I threatened his most prized possession" "-I have decided to gift Naruto with a technique that is normally taught only to experienced Jonin." said the masked Ninja, with a small injection by the kunochi next to him.

"And for Heero's prize, Kurenai and I will spend the next few days working with you on your family's technique. Hopefully, with some personal tutoring, we can actually begin to bring you the skill to use them. Are these acceptable terms?" asked their sensei, and the two turned to each other, making mumbling noises as they brought their heads together that were really just gibberish to make it seem like they had taken any time at all to make the decision.

"We accept your decision, Kurenai, sensei, koki otoko," the said, bowing to each in turn, causing the first two to grin at the third.

"When did I become Late Man?" asked Kakashi in a voice that would have garnered some sympathy from his audience, if the boys still weren't a little mad at him for being late, or from the other two if they didn't know him. So they took some time to discuss where to train, with Kakashi and Naruto heading to one of the training fields by the school, while Kurenai, Itachi, and Heero went back inside to the private training room.

"Alright, I've seen you make the colored chakra before, but just to refresh, can you make some of the white now?" asked Itachi, and Heero nodded, dropping into a stance, and then making a handsign. It was a Tiger, of a sort. The sign seemed to somehow be inverted, and as Itachi watched through his special eyes, he saw the boy's chakra pour into the sign, and come out in a pearl white that glittered through his body's chakra network.

"Always interesting to watch that," he commented, holding his hand out towards Heero, who took it, and allowed Itachi to examine him for a few minutes, before motioning towards the pile of logs, some broken, some whole, and then set one down on a training mount for Heero.

"Now, slash your 'claws' at this log," he asked, and Heero focused. He'd done this exercise a dozen times a day, the claws being the easiest of the Four Gods Techniques. Breathing in and out slowly, he brought his hands out to his sides, holding them there and then pushed his chakra out through the tips.

Slowly, the white mist began to take shape along his nails, growing out as shimmering blades about a foot long apiece, before he shouted, leapt forward, and struck with them. As always, the claws did nothing. Their essence crashed into the wood, and then dissolved like so much smoke, shattering into nothingness, and leaving Heero standing there, looking like an idiot.

"Hmm," was all the Uchiha said as he walked over towards the log, and looked closely at it with those special eyes of his. The Sharingan could see things not even the esteemed Byakugan could, looking at the same thing. For instance, the Byakugan would have seen the log, the chakra within it dead because it wasn't part of the tree. The Sharingan could see deeper than that, looking at the dead chakra itself, rather than those flows along which it once moved.

"Interesting," was all he said as he got up, and held out his hand towards Heero again, the boy giving his own, and letting the man inspect it as thoroughly as before, even poking it this time.

"Any idea how he makes that work?" asked Kurenai after a few moments, while Itachi stood back, stroking his chin in thought.

"A few ideas come to mind but...Heero?" he said at last, after letting that but hang in the air for far too long for the boy's liking.

"Yes?" he asked, a note of hopefulness seeping into his voice.

"I know you have your father's journal here. Might I see it?" he asked the boy, who stood there for a minute, his own face scrunching itself up in thought, before nodding.

"I think that would be okay, but you both have to close your eyes. That means turning off the red ones too," said Heero, and Itachi grinned at the child. He shut his eyes and held them closed for a few moments, before opening them once more, revealing the marks of his Bloodline gone from them.

"Alright, Kurenai, if you would join me in that corner?" he said, motioning towards a distant place in the room. The pair strode over there, and then waited for several seconds, before Heero moved from his spot, the sounds they heard from him indicating he was moving some tiles around on the floor, and then a click, followed by a door swinging open, and then shutting quickly.

"Okay, here you go," said Heero, holding out the journal to Itachi, the spot on the floor he'd been fiddling with being quite obvious from the gap in several floor mats that hadn't been there before. Rather than berate his student for lax security, the Uchiha heir instead opened he book, while turning on his eyes again, and quickly skimming through it.

One of the other advantages of his eyes over those of the Hyuga, one he knew his clan took advantage of far too little, was that it allowed one to look at a piece of paper, and perfectly recall the contents of it. So within seconds, he had read the entire journal, something that had taken the boy before him almost a year, and then he handed it back to him with a smile, nodding towards him as he turned around, and turned off his eyes. A few more seconds of noise, and then the boy replaced the mats where they had been, before calling out to the pair to turn around.

"Did that help any?" asked Heero expectantly, and Itachi smirked down at him while nodding.

"It helped. I want you to make those blades again, this time, hold them," he ordered, and Heero did just that, the claws coming to his hand much more easily this time, as ten, foot long rods of roiling white chakra danced from his finger tips.

"Excellent, now, tell me, what does it feel like, holding them like this?" inquired Itachi.

"It feels like...like it always does. I can feel the chakra, but nothing else really weird," he responded.

"And what does your father's journal say about it?" said Itachi, continuing to stare at Heero's hands.

"It says they're supposed to feel heavy, like lead weights when they move, but I can't get them to feel any different," the boy said this while launching into an open hand routine of his taijutsu training. His fingers seemed no less agile than before.

"Indeed. Now, have you tried adding anything else to the white chakra?" asked the instructor as he walked around Heero.

"Um, you mean like the other colors? I tried that once, and all I got was a headache," he admitted as he stopped in mid kick.

"No, I mean like your own chakra. You said you can feel the chakra in the blades, but have you ever tried to mix that with your original chakra?" he asked, and Heero just stood there for a moment, and then sighed as he focused inward. Repeating the techniques he'd been perfecting over the last two years that let him hang from ceilings, or run sideways along walls, he pushed his chakra out towards the tips of his fingers.

"Wha?!" he shouted in surprise, as his fingers became heavy at the merest touch of his chakra. The blades on the end changed physically as well. What had once been just rods of roiling mist like energy coalesced into solid forms, seemingly becoming blades of light, that he now held out at arms length, like at any moment the claws could leap off his hands and bite him like snakes.

"Incredible, even I can feel the chakra from them," commented Kurenai, who had been standing back, letting Itachi work with his student, her little brother. Heero, still a bit dazed, just nodded, and then turned towards the log he had slashed at before.

"Claws of the Tiger!" roared the youth as he bolted forward. His gait was not as sure as before, his hands feeling the weight of his technique, like lead gloves which threatened to weight him down. He didn't let that stop him, however, moving with the practiced grace of an Academy student, slashing in two flashes at the log, and then stopping just beyond it, holding his hands out to his sides so the claws formed about him like wings.

For a moment, it seemed like it hadn't worked, like the simple solution had failed, but then, the log fell apart. Not into just two pieces either. It had been slashed both horizontally and vertically, the small pieces of wood clattering to the floor with a dull sound, as the claws from Heero's hands retracted back into his body, his face lighting up as he turned around.

The next moment he was falling, and Kurenai rushed forward, her own training taking over so that before he had even touched the ground she had her arms around him. Checking first for a pulse, and then for breath, she held him there for several seconds, before turning to Itachi.

"What happened?" was all she asked, curious why her Heero would have fainted like that, when she knew he could hold the mist like claws for over an hour if he really tried, and that was before the Academy.

"Exactly what it looks like. Chakra exhaustion. His father's journal said it was common for the technique to do this to even older practitioners of his family's kekkei genkai," he admitted, as he walked over to her, and used his eyes to observe every channel of the boy's chakra network.

"Luckily, your little brother has a chakra capacity I would normally associate with chuunin, if not jonin, so he was able to take it. In fact, I wouldn't doubt that, now that he knows how it works, he'll be able to maintain the claws for a time, before this happens," he told her, motioning for her to follow. He sat down on one of the mats, and waved for her to place Heero's sleeping form beside them, before she joined him.

"So, will he be able to do all four of the techniques?" asked Kurenai. Her memories of Heero's father were of someone who'd only seen him from a distance, but she knew such skills were as formidable as the Yellow Flash's, possibly more so, if properly utilized.

"He could, but only the Claws and the Armor would leave him alive. The drain of the techniques are each an order of magnitude over the last, according to the journal," he explained calmly.

"So he should stay away from the Speed and the Roar then," she said the last as a matter of fact, and Itachi just nodded to it, looking over at the body. He saw potential there, the potential to bring ruin or prosperity to Konoha, depending on the whim of the user.

"Indeed. I had expected this to take much longer than it did. A few days at least to unlock the power hidden in his blood. To know it was hidden so simply shames me. If I had but known, I would have asked to see that journal sooner," he admitted, lamenting all the time wasted there, vowing to himself that he would not be so careless next year with his students' potential.

"It worked out better this way. He has the grounding in the basics, rather than relying on one set of skills. That sort of thing could kill a ninja, if they aren't prepared," she said, and Itachi, after a moment of thought, nodded, remembering stories of kekkei genkai users who were so dependent on their blood skills, they fell in battle the instant a counter could be made. Even his own eyes could prove to be such a crutch, as his clan found out from time to time.

"Well then, I believe I shall leave you two alone. When he awakens, remind him not to go beyond himself just yet. Konoha will have more use for him alive than dead," said the Uchiha with a matter of fact tone to his voice, but Kurenai wasn't fooled for a moment. Itachi saw his students as part of his family, and would have blamed himself should one of them fall.

"Domo, Itachi sensei," said Kurenai at last, and that brought a ghost of a smile to the Uchiha's lips, before he made a single handsign, and vanished, leaving her alone with Heero, whom she began to tend to.

Author's Notes:

I honestly started this story on a whim, after reading the ending of Naruto and feeling...unsatisfied with the conclusion of the manga. The anime is worse, in its own way, but still, many plot points and things that happen after the time skip just kind of make me mad, and so, before I go too much farther into this, I want to state for the record some things that are indeed different regarding this universe, as opposed to the canon one that do not come from that coin flip.

1) Madara Uchiha was a guy. He lived several generations ago, during the founding of Konoha. He did some stupid stuff, and ended up getting himself killed because he refused to accept that there were those who were better than him. He's still honored, somewhat by the Uchiha, for helping to found the clan, but otherwise, he's a historical footnote.

2) Tying into the above Obito is dead. Is Tobi still in this? Well, that's something for another time, but yeah, Obito died after the events that messed Kakashi up.

3) Chakra is a living force of the world, as described when it was being introduced to the audience, and which became a major plot point in one of the movies, rather the results of some guy eating a really good piece of fruit. Seriously, that was stupid.

4) Just to confirm this, considering the last point, yes, there was a ten tailed beast that got changed into nine other beasts of power. His backstory is different here, considering the above, but yeah, there's that.

That's all I've got for now. If I think of anything else, or if you have any questions regarding this fic, please feel free to note me, and remember to review as well as favorite, reviews are how I know I'm doing good with this.


	7. An Army of One

"Huh?" said Heero almost three hours later when he slowly opened his eyes. His first thought, upon waking, was that he felt like he'd been hit with a truck. Every muscle in his arms felt sore and over used, while his head felt like it was going to explode. Slowly, groggily, he rose from his position, and looked around, having to blink the blurriness from his eyes.

"Heh, awake finally I see," said a comforting voice, and Heero turned to find his oneesan in the room with him, sipping on a cup of tea, while he laid down on one of the bedrolls in the sitting room of his home. Startled, he instantly tried to hop to his feet, only to find himself swaying, and then, in the blink of an eye, Kurenai was standing beside him, her arm on his shoulder to steady him.

"Woah, woah there. You've just had quite the experience, so let's take it a little more slowly," she chided, holding him up, and then lightly letting him set back down at the table in front of him, before she took her spot opposite, staring at him.

"Do you remember what happened?" she asked, and Heero, looking back in his memory, was taken aback a moment, before slowly nodding.

"I finally accessed my kekkei genkai," he said simply, and then held out his arm. He felt the white chakra within him, just a little, held back from before. It took him only a second of focus to create inch long claws for his left hand, which he slashed out with, cutting through an apple in the center of the table, which fell into pieces, one of which he offered to Kurenai, who took the piece of fruit.

"Indeed. You have access to a set of skills that no one else in the village does. Great Power, Greater Responsibility," she said the last in a dull monotone, the oath of the ANBU, the protectors of the village.

"I accept what comes with my blood, and hope to live up to the legacy of my father," said the boy simply, sounding far older than his ten years should allow. Kurenai just smiled at him.

"Now, I do have some things I want you to promise me before I leave today," she said this in that serious tone of voice that told Heero if he didn't listen, he would regret it, and so he stared at her intently, memorizing what she said.

"You mustn't try to use the Speed of the Phoenix, or the Roar of the Dragon until you are at least out of the Academy, and even then, only if I or Itachi say you can," she began, and Heero nodded. He may not have understood everything in the journal of his father, but even he knew that some of his clan died using those techniques, the drain on their chakra too much to handle for some.

"Good, and as an added precaution, I want you to hold off on practicing with the Armor of the Tortoise until you can maintain your Claws for at least ten minutes, at one meter long," she added this for her own peace of mind, and Heero nodded at that too, staring at his fingers, but wisely not trying to summon his claws for the moment.

"Beyond that, I want you to know I'm proud of you. You've taken your first steps towards being a great ninja, a ninja who will surpass your father, and hopefully grow the Yuy Clan to be one of Konoha's great families," she told them this, and it got a smile from the boy, who was about to start questioning other things, when a series of loud footsteps from outside attracted their attention.

Normally, one couldn't hear someone in Heero and Naruto's home without them being right at the door, but this time it sounded like the entire Konoha Corps was coming to their doorstep, causing Heero and Kurenai to hop up, and then rush to the front of the house, Kurenai swearing a little under her breath.

When they reached the front, they saw something that nearly floored Heero. It was Naruto and Kakashi. Or rather, it was three Kakashi's leading about a hundred Naruto's up to the door, the Naruto's marching in perfect lock step, until the one in the lead held up his hand, causing them to stop, in almost perfect formation, making it look like Naruto was about to invade his own home.

"Kakashi!" shouted the kunoichi as she leapt towards him, anger dripping from her voice, along with killer intent.

"I told you to teach him Kage Bushin, not try to kill him!" she came to a stop just in front of him, her fingers going to a kunai that she kept in her pouch.

"You wound me, my Red Eyed Mistress of the Mind," said the one eyed ninja, his hands going over his heart like it was in pain, only to be startled when one of his clones puffed out, Kurenai's kunai sailing through where it had been, without anyone present having seen her move.

"Explain yourself," she demanded, and you could visibly see Kakashi sweating.

"Well, in truth, I did try to get him to limit how much chakra he puts into the technique at first. After a few false starts, including some rather horrid looking monsters, Naruto picked up on the technique itself. Except he had to make at least three clones, no matter how little chakra he tried to use, and so, we ended up with these extras," explained the man all in one breath, and then backed up a little as Kurenai turned to face her blonde little brother.

She looked over the group. Her eyes weren't Sharingan, but she was not the foremost master on genjutsu in the village for nothing. She could feel chakra in the air when jutsu or other techniques were used, and she could manipulate that energy, pushing it back against it's user's mind to make them her puppets. All the clones though, just as a Kage Bushin should, felt normal to her. If Naruto switched placed with any of them, she wouldn't have been able to tell, and she supposed, after sighing to herself, that that was the purpose of the technique.

"If that's true then, I'll forgive it, for now," she told him this while walking over to retrieve her kunai, slipping the sharp weapon back into it's pouch, and then walking over towards the lead Naruto.

"I'm very proud of you, Naruto. This technique is difficult. It normally takes weeks of trial and error to get it right. To see you succeeded in a single day is incredible. Your brother and you are well on your way to achieving your dreams," she told him this while hugging him, Naruto going red for a minute at the compliments, only to hear what she'd said and turn to his brother.

"You mean you can do those tricks from your dad's book now?" he asked eagerly, and Heero nodded, drawing his left hand up, and then holding out his fingers while he made five more inch long claws.

"Cool! Are they really as sharp as the book said?" he asked again, and Heero smirked in a rather evil looking fashion.

"Let's find out, line up some of those clones," he instructed, and Naruto, a bit too swiftly for their taste, had the clones line up.

"Claws of the Tiger!" cried out the silver haired boy as he leapt forward. His strides were still a little slower than his usual, but he slammed into the clones hard enough that his claws buried in the chest of the first, second, his momentum finally dying around the tenth, as each clone in turn popped into chakra smoke.

"Oh, oh wow, that would hurt," said Naruto as he received the memories of each clone in turn, feeling those blades easily slip through the chakra made skin, bursting each one like a bubble.

"Yeah, but it makes me so slow. I'm gonna have to retrain every taijutsu stance over the summer to make use of them at all," he admitted, letting the claws vanish back into his fingers, the one and still only a bit under one hundred boys going back into their house, the clones adding comments to the conversation for Naruto as they did so, soon leaving Kurenai and Kakashi outside.

"How many tries did it actually take him to get the Kage Bushin?" asked the kunoichi as soon as the boys were out of earshot.

"Over four hundred, but each failure only made him work that much harder until he could do that," admitted Kakashi, the number making Kurenai's eyes bulge for a moment, before she regained her composure. She knew Naruto's prisoner would give him great stores of chakra, effectively unlimited if she'd understood Sarutobi's words right, but still. To use the Kage Bushin more than twice in a day could kill a jonin, one of the reasons the technique tended to take at least a month to learn.

"How many can he make at once?" she asked him, curiosity getting the better of her, and Kakashi just shook his head.

"I honestly was too afraid to ask him to do it. I didn't even bother explaining the technique's limits either. Too few can do what he does to have really pushed it to that sort of limit, so I merely explained the memory sharing ability, and left it at that," he explained, and for a moment, just a moment, she wanted to admonish him for that lax bit of oversight, then she looked back into the home of her 'little brothers'.

The clones, the clones were partying with the boys. Not acting like they were extensions of Naruto's will, or simply copies given basic instructions. They were independent entities, each with their own will. Some were fighting over snacks, others were just kind of sitting there, obviously thinking about things. Naruto had created actual copies of himself, his true essence, and if he could do that, who's to say what the limit of the technique was for him.

"Aren't you going on a mission tomorrow?" asked Kakashi, changing the subject abruptly enough that Kurenai had to switch mental tracks to answer.

"Yes, I have requested that Sarutobi allow me to be a jonin instructor for a squad in two years time. In order to earn that privilege, I need to prove myself, so he's giving me a few extended missions," she explained, and Kakashi nodded.

"Heh, sounds like you already know at least some of those you're going to want on your genin team," he told her, and Kurenai didn't deny it. She wouldn't have if she could, after all, everyone in the tower knew she cared for the two boys, even if she refused to be a true mother for them. Though more often than not, the village discouraged such connections between a jonin sensei and their team, these two were exceptions to a lot of rules, so why not one more?

"I won't ask that you visit them, since I know you have your own duties, but if you could, would you come back here some days, and make sure they're alright?" she asked him, and Kakashi seemed a bit surprised at the blunt request. He then got a rather thoughtful look in that one eye of his, before nodding.

"Of course. After all, there's a future Hokage living in this house, and it would be in the best interest of Konoha to make sure he survives to lead us into a glorious golden age," said the man, smiling beneath that mask of his. He then went off with a few pleasantries, and Kurenai went inside, finding both boy's celebrating their good fortune with their training, and she promised them both she would be there when the graduated from the Academy.


	8. Training

~ One Week Later

"Alright...hit me!" said the silver haired boy, sweat dripping down his face as his purple eyes turned dark again. The blonde in an orange suit nodded, a bit apprehensively, before making the hand sign of the ram, and then shouting out to the world.

"Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" he cried, the words echoing around the training ground they were in. The empty field and trees were obscured by a lair of smoke an instant later, smoke the seemed to roil and turn like a living thing, before it finally started to fade with an errant breeze. As it blew away, forms became visible in the haze, dull expressions of people, that slowly but surely began to resolve, finally revealing a hundred versions of Naruto, all standing in a battle stance, ready to attack on command.

"Claws of the Tiger!" responded Heero, holding out his hands. The words seemed to trigger a change in him, his stance getting lower, more focused, while his hands seemed to shimmer with white light for a moment, before that light focused itself at his finger tips. The light then shot outward, soon forming ten, meter long blades, almost as tall as Heero himself. The tips of his pinkie blades actually brushed against the ground, slicing small cuts into the earth, that the boy barely noticed.

"Go," was Naruto's command to his various selves, before leaping away. Experience had taught him not to stand too close to this fight, a small patch on his sleeve showing him what could happen if he let those blades on his brother's hands touch him, so he was flying away, while every clone rushed forward, some drawing kunai, others with their fists or feet out in front, all charging in a wild dash to reach him first.

The lucky clone that did so, one with a kunai, found himself impaled on one of the blades, as Heero began to dance into the throng, his movements sure and swift as he cut through clones half a dozen at a time. Each hand was splayed out, fingers as far apart as he could, giving them impression of some skeletal bird flying with bone wings into the center of the sea of orange, that began to explode into clouds of smoke with staccato series of pops to provide the music for the encounter.

From his perch on a branch, Naruto looked down, and whistled, impressed. His clones were doing better this time, the experiences of them slowly filtering into his brain so he could remember how each one fell. Now threw anything, no projectile weapons, as they'd learned to avoid that. A clone, made with his gear, still had cloned gear. So if they hurled a kunai, and Heero cut it, the kunai, and the clone that threw it, would both pop, meaning that each one, instead, was trying to get close enough for the kill.

As the claws spun around Heero, it was obvious none were going to get that close. Hitting that one meter mark meant death. One of the clones even pulled out Naruto's secret weapon. It was old, and dented, with knicks all over the blade, but it was a real katana the blonde boy had found on the training grounds. He had thought, maybe, that a real blade, one not made of chakra, could at least halt the ones on his brother's fingers. Instead the sword was cloven into three separate pieces, each one falling to the earth as the clone that held it to guard himself, found it sliced clean through.

Naruto watched the dance for over five minutes, until, at last, the final clone fell, and Heero instantly withdrew his claws. He'd been learning to be careful with the things, especially after nearly taking off Naruto's arm with it that first time they'd had him against the clones. When the blades were gone, only then did Naruto jump from the branch, landing lightly on his feet, and then giving a good look around the field. Everywhere, one could see small scars on the ground, where claws had met earth, and the earth had yielded as easily as the air.

"Awesome. You've gotten a lot faster," said Naruto at last, and Heero, breathing heavily, and looking like he was about to fall over, nodded.

"The Claws are moving more easily," he admitted, not trying to summon them to show off. Where before his movements had been hampered by the things, making even a single hand swipe with them take a full second if not slower. He wasn't quite up to the point where they were weightless, but his progress was still surprising.

"Again?" offered Naruto with a rather wicked looking grin for a ten year old. Heero responded by picking up a handful of dirt and hurling it at him.

"Hey, hey, I was kidding!" he shouted, holding up his arms to guard his face, and then brushing it off, before following Heero over towards one of the trees, and then sitting down with him.

"So, do you think the others are going to improve as much as us, during the summer I mean?" asked Naruto, and Heero, after thinking about it, shook his head.

"No way. Hinata is a maybe, whatever her dad teaches her is going to be powerful, but even then, I think our kekkie genkais are stronger than the Hyuga's," he said, and Naruto nodded. They'd agreed, early on, that Naruto's overflowing chakra, and Heero's control of the same had to be in some way connected to their blood.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. Just wait Sasuke, I'm so gonna kick your butt," said Naruto to himself, holding his fist in the air. The sight of it made Heero grin, then, a second later, he was sound asleep, his breath coming in even breathes, and his eye gently shut. Naruto, looking over at him, shrugged, and rose to his feet. He wouldn't have admitted it, but three hundred clones in an hour was approaching his limit too, so with another ram sign, he summoned only twenty, and had them start on a dozen different training exercises, five reading books, five on some taijutsu stances he'd seen in a few books, and then ten...

He stopped, his thoughts going back over what he'd just been thinking off, and then he got another rather evil smirk on his face as he ordered the remaining ten to start on some chakra control training, while he himself rushed off to the library, mindful of Kakashi and Kurenai's warning not to let more than of himself be seen in Konoha for now, at least until school started. About twenty minutes later, Naruto, hauling as many books as he'd been allowed to check out, came back into the training ground, and ordered every clone still left(Two had popped from the chakra exercises, and three more from the taijutsu being a bit too rough for them) to start reading.

An hour, and many failed experiments later, Heero was fast asleep. He dreamed not at all, his mind too exhausted to think of any flights of fancy, and so he just drifted in peaceful slumber. Then something happened. Everything around him grew hotter than fire. Blue flames leapt through his body, speeding along his veins, and nearly stopping his heart as his eyes shot open, a single view of Naruto in his vision before it popped into smoke, and he shot to his feet, a kunai in his hand somehow as he looked around, thinking he was under attack.

"Hey, hey, hold it!" shouted the blonde boy's voice in his ear, and it took a second before Heero recognized it, his weapon drawn back, about to hurl at the source of the noise, until it clicked in his brain, and he paused.

"What?" was all he could get out as he stood there, staring at Naruto, wondering what he'd done to him. Then he realized something. He was awake. Not just not asleep in some lethargic state like someone who'd used all their chakra, but actually awake. Pocketing the kunai, he did a test, using the inverted Tiger Seal to produce more white chakra, and then forcing it through his fingers, soon creating blades again. Staring at his hands, wondering how Naruto had caused this, he turned to his brother, withdrawing the claws as he moved towards him.

"What?" he repeated, and Naruto grinned in that way that said he was proud of himself, before one of the clones behind him held up a book. it had the red cross symbol of a healer on it, and a page had been dog eared so it opened to it instantly.

"I had an idea for learning jutsu from the books, you know, like Kakashi learn a million techniques or something. Well, turns out most of them are a long way out of my league in control, but some are easy, just pump a lot of chkra into a seal and go," he explained, the clone setting the book down in front of him.

"This one caught the eye of one of my clones, and after discussing it amongst myselves, we figured it would be useful, so the clones kept trying it until they got it to work," he said this while Heero read the page. Most of it, like Naruto had said, was way beyond the Academy trainee's level. He understood maybe one word in five, but the pictures were very detailed and one technique in particular seemed to be simple, this one being a technique to transfer chakra from one ninja to another.

"Um, is this safe?" asked Heero, looking down at the warning about the technique. Most of them were pretty long, but this one was simply about control, and how if you screwed it up, it would indeed give the other person your chakra, but it would do permanent damage to your coils, possibly rendering you unable to use chakra ever again.

"If I were using it, no way. But I don't use it, my clones do," he said, and pointed to a few clones who were still practicing it, going through the three hand signs, and then touching the ones next to them. Every clone that used the technique popped, just like the one had healed him, but just like he had, each clone receiving from the technique seemed even stronger.

"I even found out something cool. Hey, come here!" he shouted, and one of the clones that had been standing back from the group came forward. This one seemed to be a bit nervous, and Heero wondered why. He didn't have to wonder long of course, because as soon as this one came in range, Naruto pulled out a kunai, and stabbed the clone in the leg with it. The thing flinched, but otherwise didn't seem to be in any pain, Heero wondering how it could take the kunai through the leg, as he could see blood, and even a bit of bone sticking out of the wound. Of course, it took him another second to process that last fact.

"Your clone is bleeding," was all Heero said, and Naruto nodded.

"I know. When you overcharge a Kage Bushin to an extreme degree, like say, enough to make a hundred normal clones, they become as solid as I am," he said, and then with a flick of his wrist, he stabbed the clone in his heart, causing the thing to disperse with a bamf sound.

"Fatal damage is still fatal though, and they die just like I would. Can you image how much damage I can do with this?" he asked, and Heero's mind was already going through a few basic scenarios. Naruto, after one year in the Academy was already in the top fifty percent of taijutsu users. Add in that the clones could do everything jutsuwise that Naruto himself could, and if he could make even a few of these, he would literally be a one man army.

"So, ready for some more training?" asked Naruto, and Heero looked at him, with that evil looking grin, and then got one that mirrored it. Naruto was growing stronger every day, it wouldn't do to fall behind, so he whipped his hands out to his side, summoning those claws again, and then slashing them through a nearby tree, which fell to the side, before turning to find himself facing three hundred boys in orange suits, all of them grinning wickedly, before shouting and charging.

"Claws of the Tiger!" he returned, entering the dance of death with a whirl of glowing white blades.


	9. Showing Off Again

Those waning days of summer, waxing days of autumn. The leaves on the tree are mostly still green, but here and there, a golden bit of color can be found. The winds bore the sweet smell of flowers in their last bloom, and the air echoed with the cries of children. Most of them about how school sucked and they didn't want to go back to classes, and sit in front of a boring teacher droning on and on about some daimyo who lived a millennium ago, and how his impact was still being felt today.

That was how it was in most civilian class rooms, even those in the Leaf. Those students who would be forced to learn facts and numbers. To know the names of all the important lords and ladies of history, lest they be forced to repeat the mistakes of the past. The Academy however, was mostly silent. Only the cries of the new class, Class A, could be heard, as the teacher sent them through paces, having them show off, and being both pleased that they were eager to learn, and somewhere, in the back of their minds, a bit miffed that it was class B that everyone was going to be talking about.

"Okay kids, I'd like to be the first to welcome you back to class," said Itachi as his students filed in. Of the twenty that had left his class at the beginning of summer, a short two months ago, now only eighteen came back. The two who weren't present had parents who had, after seeing their scores, had decided their prodigy would be safer in a lest deadly line of work, and after some shouts, threats, and slamming doors, the two had agreed, leaving only these students behind, who's families fully endorsed their chosen roles in the Leaf.

"Thank you, sensei," came a chorus of responses, and it made the young man behind his desk smile as he closed his eyes, and then opened them again, revealing his red eyes to class, and looking them over with vision that could pierce one's soul. Each child had improved over the months, as none of them would have slacked off in their training. He could see muscles where there had been none before on most of them, and some even seemed to hold themselves differently, more confident in themselves than before.

Some though, were different. These students, his brother included, had started to come into their own. Sasuke burned brightly, his chakra flowing through his body like a great river of blue fire. The same was, interestingly enough, the case for the Nara boy, who's chakra reserves had more than doubled over the summer. Ino and Sakura had almost quintupled though, beating out even Sasuke in raw amount, and both rapidly approaching Hinata in their control of their power.

Two shone brightly though, almost blindingly so. Naruto had always had a lot of chakra, of course, but his small coils had always made him look like a man who contained a star inside him, someone who would eventually burn himself out. Now that fire raged over his whole form, a sea of barely contained azure flame, with some potentially worrying flecks of red. Next to him was Heero, who showed the most improvement. Even compared to his previous chakra reserves, he had to have grown at least an order of magnitude stronger, if not more.

"Now, I'm sure all of you are excited to learn what it is will be doing on our first day back, so I won't keep you in suspense any longer. We're going to take a test," he said the last with that condescending tone a teacher used on their students to deliver bad news, and as expected, more than half the class groaned in frustration. He only smirked harder as he reached under his desk, and puled a stack of papers out to set it loudly down on top of it. As he did so, he hit a hidden switch under the lip of the desk, and part of the wall behind him swung open, revealing a hidden door to the gym that was behind the classroom.

"If you will all follow me," said Itachi as he rose, leaving the papers where they were, and very gratified to see the surprised looks on the faces of his students. Even the usual unflappable Shino, and his own brother, seemed curious about this turn of events. They walked through the door, into the sparing gym, where Hizashi and Mizuki were already waiting, smiling at them.

"A ninja, is a living weapon," began Itachi as he turned to face his class while standing between the others.

"But too many focus on the latter half of that statement, ignoring the former. We live first, and are weapons second. We must learn to harness the former, to sharper the latter against it. So it has been in the Leaf since it's founding," explained Mizuki.

"You have proven you can learn, and by coming back here, you have proven the desire to be sharpened. From now on, lessons of pen and paper will be the rarity, and fighting will instead be what we teach you," finished Hizashi.

"From now, until the end of the year we'll have sparring matches at least once a day. You will be ranked, and just in case you're curious, the prize is still up for grabs. The top ranked combatant, disregarding Mr's Yuy, Uzumaki, and Ms. Hyuga, will be taught a single technique by Kakashi. Is that understood?" asked Itachi, and was gratified with the light shining on a few faces. Kiba's spirit seemed to rise the most, though given he wouldn't have stood a chance in an academic challenge, this was to be expected.

"Excellent. So, since they're already out of the running, why don't we have Mr. Yuy and Ms. Hyuga to start?" as Itachi said this, he and the instructors did a single hand sign together. Smoke filled the area around them, and when it cleared, they were sitting at a table, papers in front of all of them. Itachi then motioned with one hand towards the mat, a prompt which made Heero and Hinata enter the ring eagerly.

"How was your summer?" asked Heero, as he proceeded to go through some warm up stretches, as Hinata did the same, working some kinks out of her muscles.

"Not bad. Father and Uncle taught me a lot over the summer. Do you know what your elemental affinity is?" she asked as she did a few flips onto the mat, loosening herself up.

"My what?" responded Heero.

"Elemental Affinity. A ninja's chakra tends to move best with a certain element. Fire, Earth, and the like. There' some special paper they make to test your affinity. Turns out, my affinity is water," she said this while taking a fighting stance finally, both hands held out in front of her. Heero, seeing her as ready, took a similar stance, his feet placed widely apart, while his fingers curled like animal claws on his hand, while Hinata's were perfectly straight.

"Oh, did that help with your training?" queried the boy, before he was forced to start dodging as Itachi rang a small bell, and Hinata charged forward, her hands flashing by so fast they were almost invisible to him, causing him to dodge first left, then right, and having to roll backwards to avoid a follow up.

"Heh, yeah. Turns out, Gentle Fist's main technique line is much more earth natured. A few of the users in the clan are water aspected though, and they began teaching me a new style," she told him this while leaping forward, trying to drive him before her, and straight off the map. Heero let her take him right to the edge, before leaping over her head, spinning in the air, and then coming down into another combat stance.

"I must admit, you've gotten more fluid with your strikes," said Heero, who, having sparred against the Hyuga girl the previous year, remembered her as being a direct fighter. Even without using the Gentle Fist, he strikes were direct, and usually powerful. Now she seemed to flow into each set of strikes instead, gently moving like a tide, and then striking like a tidal wave.

"Thanks. You've definitely gotten faster yourself," she admitted, diving forward, and then rolling on the mat, before sweeping her legs at his chest. Heero had to bring up his arm to block the kick, and even then, he was nearly thrown, his stance breaking as he gave ground, and his body landing on a hand, before he flipped back to his feet.

"Enough banter, just finish this one Hinata!" shouted Ino from the sidelines, and Sakura was soon taking up the cry with her best friend. Most of the class seemed to already know who was going to win this match, and were telling Hinata to get on with it.

"Seems, I'm the crowd favorite, despite your training. Would you like to give up now?" she asked the boy, and he grinned at her, before dropping into a meditative stance, his fingers doing a weird seal she hadn't seen before. Quickly she turned on her eyes, and saw the chakra in his body, more than her father she was surprised to see, was being filtered through that sign, turning black.

"You can't be serious," she told him, and then focused inside herself, drawing on her blood to focus her chakra into her hands. With a thought, the tips of her fingers began to glow a little. Not as much as Naruto when he super charged himself with chakra, but far more than her fingers had last year.

"I am always serious," he declared, and then punched his fists together. Out of that meeting of his fingers poured the black chakra, visibly spreading over his body, causing Hizashi and Mizuki to look on with surprise, while the class just seemed stunned. only Naruto and Itachi didn't seem shocked at this sight, and they wore grins on their faces as Heero's black chakra skin crawled over his whole body, from head to toe.

"Armor of the Tortoise!" he shouted at last, and Hinata just stared at him. Her eyes couldn't see him anymore. His chakra network, his body, nothing. Her byakugan saw only the black outline of Heero, as he stood there, making a gesture with his fingers telling her to bring it on. She didn't disappoint him, charging forward, figuring his defense was nothing compared to her offense, which had never failed to net her the win during the previous years sparing matches.

She struck like a cobra, her hands vanishing, and then reappearing only to jab fingers into the chakra flows of Heero's body. Of course, everyone in the class expected Heero to do that jerking dance they all did when struck with the power of the Gentle Fist. Instead, the silver haired boy, who was now outlined in roiling black chakra mist no matter how you looked at him, just stood there, taking very hit like it didn't even touch him, only blocking his face with his arms until Hinata finally had enough and leapt away.

Even she seemed surprised as she did so, just staring at Heero for several long seconds, like what she was looking at was impossible. Heero himself though didn't seem to bothered, coming out of his block just to grin casually at her. He then saw something that surprised him, and when the others followed his eyes, there were a few gasps of shock from the class.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" he asked, concern in his voice, and Hinata finally looked where he was to find her fingers, her delicate weapons, were damaged. Her finger tips were burned, her pointer finger on her right hand almost black, with a small column of smoke rising from it.

"Um, do you want to go see the medicnin?" asked Heero, and Hinata just stared at her hands for a few heartbeats longer, before she suddenly whipped her right hand out in a side punch that should have sent the silver haired boy sprawling. It did startle him, and he had no time to block as the fist impacted his head with a crack of bone and sinew. However, it was not his skull that cracked, it was her fist, and having his answer, Heero resumed the fight.

Well, to call it a fight was over stating it. The battle lasted only two more blows, as Heero did a side kick to Hinata's left, his movements slow, slow enough that had Hinata been thinking, she would have jumped away from them. She wasn't, however, and instead took the blow hard, so hard that it tore through her guard and sent her sprawling. Heero then followed that up with a single punch, straight at her midriff, once again slow, but with enough power behind it that Hinata went sailing, landing outside the sparing ring.

The rest of the class were so surprised that for a few seconds, no one said anything, as Hinata, with obvious effort, picked herself up from the ground. Her stance was steady as she got back to her feet though, not even the bitter taste of defeat keeping her from smiling. A challenge at last to her prowess as a ninja. That was the thought that crossed her mind as she bowed, a bit too carefully, to her opponent, who returned the gesture of respect, while banishing the outline of black chakra, returning to normal.

"Excellent fight, both of you," said Hizashi as he approached Hinata, his eyes going up and down her body, looking for any sign of injury. A few bruises came to his eye easily enough, and a rib that might have cracked had the fight gone on for another few seconds. As it was though, she seemed fine, just exhausted. Her fingers even looked okay to his byakugan. The coils at their tips seemed a bit out of shape, probably from having the chakra attack of the Gentle Fist rebounded back into them, but they would recover.

"Thank you, Uncle. Might I go to the medicnin now?" she asked, humility entering her voice. Hizashi was a bit surprised at that. His niece was usually one of the more confident members of the Main Family. Never flaunting her power and position, but never forgetting what it meant. He smiled at her accepting defeat so gracefully, and nodded.

"Indeed. I shall escort you there myself. Itachi?" he asked this, turning to the red eyed man who was staring at Heero.

"Go on," he said absent mindedly, and Hizashi looked where he was. Heero stood there, that black chakra still swirling about inside him, seemingly not at all drained from the barrier of it he had just used. Understanding Itachi's distraction, the Hyuga Branch Family member said nothing, and merely led his niece from the scene.

"How long can you maintain that barrier?" asked Itachi at last, and Heero just grinned at him.

"I'm not sure. We timed it a few weeks ago, and I got it up to about three minutes, but I think I can do it way longer now," he bragged to his sensei, who nodded gravely, adding several notes on his sheet, and marking the edge with a particular symbol, one that would be important later that night. He then waved his hand for Heero to walk to the other side of the room.

"Okay, after that surprise, Naruto, Sasuke, would you please approach the mat?" asked Itachi, and the pair did so, stepping into the ring. Neither needed to stretch, so they just took their positions on the opposite. Once both seemed comfortable, Itachi's bell let out a sharp tone, and the pair rocketed forward.

"What was that thing your brother used? Was that what you learned from Kakashi?!" demanded Sasuke as their fists met between them with a hard, almost bone cracking clack. Neither boy even seemed to notice that they should be rolling on the floor in pain though, as they instead each followed up with a rolling counter, Academy perfect stances carrying their feet together so they smacked together at the ankle, the momentum of the blows forcing the two apart.

"You didn't ask your brother what it was we learned?" countered Naruto, standing stock still, favoring his right foot a bit, while Saskue mirrored him, favoring his left.

"Of course I did, baka. I asked him over and over again, but he refused to tell me," Sasuke responded while gathering up all the force his could, and then kicking forward, his right foot swinging high, while his left came low, trying to force the Uzumaki boy off his feet. Naruto saw the blow coming a mile away, and did a flip into the kicks, getting between them before Sasuke could bring them together in a very powerful scissoring motion which would have probably knocked the breath from Naruto's lungs.

"Well then, I suppose I can enlighten you as to what I learned, if nothing else," said Naruto as he rolled back onto his feet, and then turned with a rather infuriating grin on his face.

"I learned how to make clones," he told the black haired boy, who just stopped for a second at the news. Clones were what they had finished on last year, though none of the students had perfected the technique yet. His brother had, after some wheedling, admitted that Bushin tended to be one of the graduation requirements of the Academy. But to learn just those from Kakashi, Copy Cat Ninja and Master of a Thousand Techniques. He was stunned just long enough for Naruto to squat into a focus stance, and make a single Ram Seal with his fingers.

"Kage Bushin No Jutsu!" he shouted, and with a bamf, disappeared behind a thick wall of chakra smoke. It cleared slowly, but before it was all the way gone, three Narutos burst from inside it, each coming at Sasuke from a different angle. That was the point of the technique of course, illusions to throw you off but...what was that word he'd said before...oh no.

"Kage?! Shadow clones!?" he cried out, and quickly dodged a set of three fists and feet as they came around him, forcing him into stances that his father would have called disgraceful for an Uchiha. His brother meanwhile, was impressed with Sasuke's dexterity and flexibility at such a young age. He threw himself into every dodge, bending almost in half to get away from the three Narutos. The instant he had an opening, he did a backflip through them, getting some distance between the two, until he could get into a fighting stance again, and then go on the offensive.

He jumped eagerly into the fray, his eyes shining with that sparkle of a young man finding himself challenged. Where before he'd been near the top of his class, with only Hinata really able to match him when he went all out, now, with the clones, Naruto was proving just as formidable. He knew something of the technique though, the clones would be weak. A single good hit would pop them, that meant he just had to find the real Naruto, and then dispel the clones quickly. Luckily for him, the Narutos seemed a bit slow to defend themselves, and the first one he struck took it right in the chin, with a loud enough bone meeting bone sound that some of the students winced at it.

Before that Naruto was done falling to the ground, Sasuke attacked his remaining two opponents. Briefly, he considered a Katon technique, but remembered the mess fire jutsus tended to make, and just went with punches. Each fist found its mark as he charged forward with his arms outstretched, his muscles screaming at him as he slammed his blows home, punching both Narutos hard in the gut, and sending them flying into the air, where they...rolled onto the mat, and then stood up, one of them obviously slowed by the attacks, holding his chest in pain. The other just seemed to grin at him, while he heard cracking knuckles, and looked behind him to find the first Naruto he'd hit standing up, his chin bruised, but seemingly not feeling it at all.

"Impossible," came a word from several mouths at once. Mizuki and Sasuke said it as one, while the rest of the class who knew the technique, either through parents or just stories, were stunned by what Naruto's clones had just done.

"Impossible is just a word people use when they don't have the will to go farther. I've been told it's impossible for some orphan boy to become Hokage, just like it's impossible to make a Shadow Clone that bleeds. I will show you all that I can make the impossible, possible," he said this while all three Narutos pulled kunai from their belt, and as one cut into their palms, a small trickle of blood running onto the mat, before they charged again. Sasuke tried to defend, but his mind told him what he was seeing just couldn't be. Worse, the three Narutos struck better this time, none of them holding anything back, so the Uchiha boy soon found himself pummeled by blow after blow, until finally he was tossed from the mat, Itachi ringing his bell, ending the match.


	10. Precautions

"You cannot be serious," said the man sitting in the chair beside the desk, staring at the reports in his hand. They said things that...well, he'd been doing his job for several years now and seen some very odd things, but this was just unbelievable.

"I swear to Izanagi it is true," said the other man, and everyone in the room nodded gravely. They knew Itachi, knew he wasn't given to exaggeration. Worse, they had the word of Mizuki, and the students to confirm it.

"Shadow Clones who can bleed. This technique would render a single ninja into an army," said Ibiki at last, continuing to stare at the reports in his hands.

"Worse, Heero seems to have chakra reserves on par with a Kage. He's ten," said Kakashi, reminding the gathered men of that fact as well. It seems the two had really been doing some sharpening over their summer break, and had both come into power that would make any of the men in this room jealous.

"He'll be eleven in a month," countered Sarutobi, a bit of worry creeping into his voice. He knew of course that it wasn't much of a counter, but one had to work with what they had.

"Does Danzo know yet?" asked Ibiki at last. The man, a power within the village that even the Hokage sometimes had trouble keeping in check, might have done something drastic if he knew just how much power two young boys now held in their small bodies, with their very easily manipulated minds.

"No, I ordered the students not to speak of the matches to anyone, saying they needed to be kept secret for my little contest. I then impressed upon their parents that if they spoke of it, any information was to be considered an S Ranked Secret," said Itachi, and everyone nodded. Only the Hokage could actually declare something to be that level of Secret, but if someone as respected as Itachi said so, most people of the village would give up their life before revealing it.

"Good, that's one problem nipped in the bud then. What about the larger issue of the boys though? More importantly, what do we tell their 'big sister'?" asked Kakashi, and all the men in the room shuddered a little bit. They weren't responsible for this, and in reality this was a fantastic development, but the training required to get the boys to this level so quickly? It had to have been dangerous, more than likely life threatening, and none of them had even known about it, let alone tried to stop it. The Mistress of the Mind would not be happy with Kakashi, but would like as not spread her anger around to both the Hokage and Itachi.

"For now, that problem can be put on hold. I sent her on an extended mission to the Land of Grass. She should return in about three months, if all goes well. In the meantime, perhaps we should consider withdrawing the boys from the class, maybe even graduating them to genin," the Hokage offered, but Itachi and Kakashi both shook their heads after a moment's thought.

"No, it wouldn't be prudent to do that. If for no other reason than Kurenai wishes to be their jonin sensei herself. There's also the fact that, as of now, the students know of their skills. To withdraw them would only risk spreading that information farther," said Itachi, and Kakashi nodded his agreement.

"We're just lucky no one noticed them at the training ground when they were practicing these things. If Iwa or Kumo had learned of this, we'd already have at least a dozen Hunter-Nin in the village aiming for the boys' heads," added Kakashi to the mix of statements.

"How did they hide that, anyway. I thought you were keeping an eye on them for their big sister, Kakashi-kun?" said Itachi suddenly, and one could see a sweat drop rolling down the Copy-Nin's face as he scratched at his cheek in embarrassment.

"I'll admit, they were a bit more devious than I thought. I came by once a week, every Wednesday, but never saw them do more than taijutsu or henge practice. To know they were literally doing this behind my back is actually another point in their favor," admitted the one eyed man. This seemed to be the truth enough so that the others turned their minds to other things, though each didn't truly believe Kakashi had put forth his best effort in his role as observer of the two.

"What protection do the boys have as of now?" asked Ibiki suddenly, causing the other three to turn to him, before Kakashi produced a little book from his back pocket.

"I picked out three teams of my most trusted ANBU operatives to take a round the clock guard duty for them, just in case something did get out about their abilities without us knowing about it. I trust all nine of them with my life, and so I told them what they would need to look out for, and to stay out of the boys' way for now, just to make sure they're safe," said Kakashi, looking over the list of names again, before putting the book back into his pocket, as if reassuring himself of his faith in those men and women.

"Perhaps we should have been doing this all along," commented Ibiki, more to himself than to those in the room.

"It is possible, yes. But I felt it best to keep eyes away from the boys. Their lineages would make them a target, and the best way to keep a secret like this is to make sure no one knows there's a secret at all," said the Hokage in response to it. Ibiki nodded at that statement, but still felt that he should have pressed the issue.

"So we have two Academy trainees that should be at least Chuunin now, if not higher. They aren't slacking off in their training either. I watched them in their basement, and saw Heero fighting against five different Narutos, all of which took hits that would have broken any Genin in the village," said Itachi, flashing his red eyes to show how that might have been accomplished. It caused the other three men in the room to fall silent.

"For now, we shall do nothing more than what we have. The ANBU teams will continue to guard the two boys, make sure no one suspects how powerful they already are, and hopefully we can keep others from spreading this news too far, for now. If there's any change at all in the situation, I want to be informed immediately," the old man finally said, and three heads nodded in unison.

"Hai, Hokage-Sama," said the voices, before they each left the room, allowing the old man a private moment. Looking after them, he turned his head to a set of pictures hanging on the side wall of his office, several of his old teams, and of the friends he'd know in his life. One in particular caught his eye now, of a man wearing his official robes, his yellow hair seemingly almost electric in the light of the picture, while next to him stood a silver haired man with purple eyes, the two smiling as they made faces at the camera.

"You two knew this would happen, didn't you? That the boys would beat against each other, pushing themselves harder and stronger, to surpass both of you. I think this qualifies as the greatest success of your lives, not counting our Konoha's safety ten years ago," said Sarutobi, and opened a draw in his desk, out of which he pulled a small bottle, which he saluted the two with, before taking a long pull on.


	11. Extracurricular Activities

Days passed as men and women, young and old, were moved around at the Hokage's orders. Soon, two boys were told to practice their skills only in their own home, to keep secret the powers that continued to build inside them. Families asked questions of their own progeny, who either said nothing, or told all, as was their will. But even so, each child, seeing the power of their classmates, pushed themselves harder and harder, growing in their own ways.

Autumn gave way to Winter's cold winds, and snow covered much of the Land of Fire. Training provided the heat though, and sweat covered the training mats every day as the children sharpened themselves against each other. Every match seemed to reveal something new. Naruto's clones, powerful though they were, were still clones, and had minds that weren't quite as fast as the original, so they could be confused easily. Heero's armor, while nearly impenetrable, was heavy enough that he couldn't move like a ninja could, limiting his mobility, and providing opportunities for those who could exploit them.

The class settled into a routine, with ranks determined, and with only minimal changes. Heero, Hinata, Naruto, and Sasuke stood at the top. The first with his armor able to simply push his opponents from the ring, the second with her touch able to paralyze her opponent, the third with his multiple selves, no one ever quite sure which was the real him, and the fourth, his strikes powerful and direct enough to drive his foes before him. The fifth rank in the class changed almost daily, as those below jockeyed for position. Sakura one day landing a lucky hit on Ino, causing their friendship to strain. Shino showing off a bit more dexterity than normal to knock Kiba from the ring, and of course, every once in a while, Shikamaru stepped up to be the ninja everyone in the class knew he could be, if he weren't so lazy.

~The Final Day of Class Before Winter Break

"Freedom!" shouted the boy, his dog barking from his back as he held on. The pair gleefully howled together as Kiba ran on all fours, snow being flung all about him from the previous night's storm. His classmates followed behind in small groups, bundled together against the biting cold air.

"Is he gonna do that every time we have an extended break?" asked Sakura as she watched him charge off. Next to her, Ino just sighed, her breath coming out in a cloud of steam that caused her to huddle closer to Sakura for warmth, the two shivering. The rest of the class chose to walk slower than was normal, even the usually exuberant Heero and Naruto seemed to take the uncharacteristically cold weather as a sign not to just go running off into it. This slow pace allowed a set of footsteps to catch up to them as they walked home.

"Excuse me, boys?" asked a voice they knew well, and both turned around to find Hizashi who had spoken, as well as Hinata and Neji standing behind them. Three Hyugas seemed immune to the cold, standing there in the ankle deep snow, before they bowed to the pair, who returned it as gracefully as they could in their winter coats.

"Hai, sensei?" asked the two boys in almost perfect unison.

"Oh, don't be so formal now. We're not in class, and I came to ask you something. My brother wanted to meet the other top five students in my class, who could give his daughter a hard time. Normally, we'd extend the invitation through the family, but you two are an exception," said the white eyed man rather warmly, and the two looked at him.

"So, you want us to come to your house?" asked Naruto after a second's thought.

"More specifically, dinner tonight. If you two are busy, I can tell Hiashi that we'll need to reschedule, but we would be honored if you would grace us with your presence," said the man, and the two boys stared at him, turned to each other, and then back to him.

"Um...who else will be there?" asked Heero.

"As I said, this honor is extended to the top five students of Class B. So Hinata, and you two of course, as well as Sasuke and Shikarmaru. Beyond that, it should be a closed affair, I believe. Just our immediate family," answered their teacher.

"Oh, okay, cool. We'll be there then. When should we arrive?" asked Heero.

"We should have preparations for the meal completed in around two and a half hours, so five o'clock would be the best time to arrive," said the white eyed man, before bowing again, and walking off. The two kids by his side bowed towards the two boys as well, a bit deeper than their elder, before following. Of course, the instant the three were gone, they bound off into the sky, leaping over roof tops, and finally finding Shikamaru only about a quarter of the way to the Nara household.

"Shika! Wait up!" shouted Naruto as he leapt down from a rooftop, landing in a snow drift that buried him up to his neck. Heero, instead ran down the side of the building, and stood on top of the snow.

"Huh? What do you two want?" asked the boy. Out of another student the tone would have indicated annoyance, but Shikamaru always said things like that, and his eyes tended to be how you tell what he really was thinking, in this case, the single raised eyebrow indicated he was curious why the two would come barreling through the snow to talk to him.

"What do we wear to dinner tonight?" blurted out Naruto, and Shikamaru stared at him.

"Uh, whatever you want?" responded the pineapple headed boy, growing confused.

"He means to dinner at the Hyuga residence. We've been invited, and so have you and Sasuke, since we're the top five in the class other than Hinata" explained Heero, and Shikamaru got a rather odd look on his face, before stroking his chin with his finger.

"Troublesome. I knew I shouldn't have tried to win against Ino," responded Shikamaru, while motioning the boys over to an alley so he could sit on an empty crate.

"Well, you did, so what do we wear? I mean, we don't have those fancy kimonos or robes or whatever," said Naruto, pulling at the orange jumpsuit he always seemed to wear. In actuality, he had over three dozen copies of the outfit, all with pockets in various places for storing things from weapons to snacks.

"Well, if they're inviting us tonight, and in this weather, I doubt it's a formal event. Just clean yourselves up from class, and you should be good," he explained, and the two boys nodded.

"What about food, should we bring some?" asked Heero, and Shikamaru shook his head.

"No, if we're going to be guests of their house, they'll provide the meal. But be on your best behavior. It'll make trouble for all of us if one of you starts to act up," he warned, and then started off towards his home, murmurs of 'troublesome' coming from behind him, before he vanished into the snow. Looking at each other, the pair of boys leapt into the air again, and made their way along the streets to their home. Once there they striped off their school clothes and set about cleaning themselves up as best as possible. Luckily, the pipes did warm, as well as freezing water, allowing for them to bathe comfortably despite the weather. With their bodies clean, and their best clothing on, which consisted of a school standard jumpsuit for Heero and Naruto's signature orange, the pair found themselves outside the Hyuga compound, just as the winter sun began to set on the horizon.

"Welcome to our Clan's Home, Yuy-san, Uzumaki-san," said Neji as he greeted them at the gate, after they'd run the bell. He bowed, a little less deeply now that his father wasn't watching, but still respectfully towards the two, who returned the gesture.

"Arigato, Hyuga-senpai," the two said together, getting a small grin from the white eyed boy as he led them into the Hyuga's Compound. The place looked...well, like a smaller version of the village outside the high wall. Paths had been dug through the snow between the homes, and it was obvious were places like wash house and even a store were, as people brought bags and baskets from those filed with laundry or food respectively. Neither boy tried to react to the sights around them, to the knowledge that this whole place was owned by a single family, and yet, their eyes showed their wonderment at it, which only made Neji smile wider as he led them to the largest home in the compound.

Once inside, they were instructed to take off their coats and shoes, which they promptly did so, Heero's ending up looking just a bit neater than Naruto's pile of garments, before both were permitted into the home proper. The home was sedate, rather than opulent, as one might expect of one of the Four Noble Clans. The walls were simple, adorned only periodically with the symbol of the Hyuga's House, and only a few tables stood in the halls. On those tables were pictures, some of single people, but most of families, all smiling at the camera or the artist as they stood there. The last of these was obviously Hinata, a picture of her, her father, and her sister.

"Ah, here they are now," said Hizashi's voice from the room they were led to. Inside they found Shikamaru, Sasuke, Hinata, a young girl who was obviously Hinata's sister and...two Hizashi's.

"Father, Uncle," said Neji, bowing to both men, before taking a seat at the table, crossing his legs beneath him as he sat on the pillow. Not wanting to be rude, Heero and Naruto did much the same, before taking their own places at the table.

"So, you are the two who regularly beat my daughter in contests of strength, if not of mind," said one of the Hizashi's. His voice was different though, a bit older sounding, like he was tired, but refused to go to bed.

"That's mostly Heero, Hyuga-sama. His armor renders the Gentle Fist a bit more gentle than fist," said Naruto simply, getting an elbow to the chest for his trouble, while everyone around the table just blinked at the bluntness of the statement. Then the Not-Hizashi Hizashi burst out laughing, having to set his tea cup on the table before him as he slapped his knee.

"Ah, so that's how that works. Now then, since you already know my brother, Hianta, Uchiha-san, and Nara-san, allow me to introduce Hinata's sister, and my daughter, Hanabi," he said this, gesturing towards the girl beside him, the two respectfully inclining their heads to the young girl, who couldn't have been more than six years old. Oddly, she carried herself like an adult, already, as she bowed gracefully from his sitting position towards the pair.

"As for myself, I am Hiashi, twin brother to your sensei, and leader of the Hyuga Clan," he said this while pointing to himself, and then to the crest of his family hanging on the wall behind him.

"Now, I want you all to eat well, I have a few questions, and a request of you four, when the meal is done," having said this, the man snapped his fingers, and seemingly having been waiting hours for that signal, several panels along the wall slid open, and out of them came several members of the Hyuga clan bearing trays of food. The group then ate, only the sound of clinking chop sticks and dishes to mar the silence of the mealtime. Not that any of the four guests ate like the Hyuga, who seemed to be able to levitate the food without effort, whereas Heero and Naruto seemed to have trouble with it. Even Sasuke seemed to not be able to mimic the Hyuga's grace, and Shikamaru didn't even try. Luckily, the meal was small, by the standards of growing young boys, and ended in a few minutes, leaving the group around the table after the dishes had been cleared away.

"To business then. You boys are the ones best able to match my Hinata at combat, and as Winter Break is coming, I would ask a favor of the four of you," said Hiashi as he sat there, his face looking very serious.

"My daughter is the heir to our clan, and her strength is our strength. As such, I would request that you help her train," he said this with a bow that was far deeper than should normally be given to children, and the four boys, sitting next to each other, were silent.

"Um, not to be a downer, but don't we already do that? School training and everything," commented Shikamaru, and Hiashi shook his head.

"You compete there, pushing her harder, but I want more than that. My daughter is the future of our clan, and I want her to be the very best she can be. You four have proven, many times, to be her equal in combat. Neji, my nephew, has proven this as well. His mastery of the Gentle Fist style is a testament to his hard work, and dedication," as he said this, Hiashi placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, causing a bit of red to sneak into Neji's cheeks, before he banished it, and just swelled his chest out with pride.

"Still, against him, all she can do is get better against the skills of her own clan. You can offer her more than that. You can provide challenges the clan could not, and as such, she could provide you with the same, pushing you farther than you ever thought possible. I ask this of you, not as the head of one of the great clans, but as a man who wishes to see his daughter blossom into her true power, would you help me?" he said this, pushing himself off his seat, and then laying with his forehead pressed into the ground. The four boys looked at each other, and then, with a sigh, Shikamaru gave their answer.

"It will be troublesome, but, we agree to help sharpen Hinata to a fine edge, as she sharpens us," he told the man, who smiled as he rose to his feet, and then began to discuss details of the arrangement, Naruto and Heero mostly caring about more food, while Sasuke was more concerned with getting help awakening his Sharingan. Shiakmaru, as one might expect, was just going along with the flow, but if one knew him well, one might have noticed his eyes studying every detail of Hiashi, trying to divine the reason he might make this request.

~Later that night

"They agreed to this a bit too willingly," said Hiashi as he talked to the men in his sitting room. Before him were some of the most powerful men in Konoha, including its current leader, the master of its ANBU, and the heir to one of the four noble clans.

"They are young, and this sounds to them like an opportunity to gain greater physical power. Young men care about such things, not yet understanding that such power is the least of which a man might wield," commented the Third as he sipped from a cup of tea Hiashi had provided.

"True, and I do like the idea of my Hinata gaining such power as well. I must admit, I have not been as much of a father for her as I would have liked, but Hizashi seems to be picking up the slack in that area. Heh, he read her a bedtime story tonight," said Hiashi, his shoulders slumping a bit as he spoke. All three men in the room nodded their understanding, though only one had children with which to compare the experience. To be the leader of an organization like the ANBU, or to be the head teacher at the Academy meant the other two knew of time constrains one's position could put on one.

"So, you will make sure the boys will be protected?" asked Itachi as he poured himself another cup of coffee from a pitcher of the bitter tasting liquid.

"Of course. This was a most interesting idea, might I ask which one of you came up with it?" asked the head of the Hyuga clan as he sat there, and both Itachi and Sarutobi looked towards Kakashi.

"Well, it was my suggestion. Your clan is one of the most prominent, so having private training sessions with them would increase the notoriety of the boys, but at the same time, if they ever seem just a bit too strong, it would be chalked up to training with Hinata, and not to other abilities," explained the one eyed ninja.

"And by bringing in two others, you further dilute the gossip, spreading it around. A most interesting idea indeed," said Hiashi as he looked at a wall. Through it, he could see his daughter, asleep, a smile on her lips. She had a good home life, a loving uncle, a warm, if distant, father, and a cousin who encouraged her, even when he was beating her like a drum. She didn't have many friends outside of the clan though, and never invited any to their home. Perhaps this would be a good experience for her.


	12. Konoha Thirteen

The training with Hinata began the next day.

This training was great for everyone involved, as the boys and Hinata learned to function as part of a team, with the sides changing day to day, either in one on four matches, or just in teams of two and three. The most common tended to be, at Hiashi's insistence, Heero and Naruto vs the team of Hinata, Sasuke, and Shikamaru. The two worked well together, having trained for years with each other, showing a level synchronization to their attacks that the other three just couldn't match. Worse, after a week of such matches, Heero learned a new trick with his armor. How to expand it, and cover the original Naruto, allowing him to make clone after clone and send it against the other three.

Not that those three let them win every time. They had their own prides to think about. Sasuke especially was relentless when it came to combat. Within the indoor training ground of the Hyuga, ringed on all sides by chakra blocking seals, he was able to cut loose fully. He tended more towards Katon techniques, showering the arena with fireballs and swirling vortexes of flame. He also proved to be the fastest of the five Academy students, often able to vanish to the naked eye, only to reappear somewhere different, launch a single attack, or move into a taijutsu combination, and then vanish again before any retaliation could be had.

Shikamaru was less driven, but didn't want to let his clan down, especially after learning from his dad he would be informed of how well his son did, and would act appropriately if he embarrassed the Nara's in front of two orphans and two other clan heirs. So he fought on, revealing as he did, something important regarding Heero's armor. It didn't work against his shadow jutsu, so he was able to hold him, and since his chakra still lasted longer than Heero's, he could literally just stand there waiting for the other boy to run dry. Worse, he seemed to enjoy the technique, often using it against all four of the others just to show off.

Hinata was just as driven as Sasuke, and had more to lose, as it was her clan's ground she was fighting on. She didn't disappoint either her father, who would sometime come down for the matches, or her uncle and cousin, both of which were always there egging her on, telling her she could do it. Their confidence in her was her pillar, and she would ram that pillar into the defenses of the boys, disabling every Naruto clone, taking down Sasuke by barreling through his flames, assaulting Shikamaru so fast he had no time to use his shadow, and dodging Heero until her chakra ran out, and she could lay the finishing blow on him.

Not that Heero and Naruto learned nothing during the training. Naruto learned that his clones, if they used henge they did not just seem to change shape, they transformed physically. At first this was used merely to give them longer reach, or make them larger, at that cost of some durability, but eventually he learned he could make weapons with them, a single clone throwing a dozen shuriken at a time, and any that missed would then transform back into clones, and throw even more of the same, overwhelming his opponents. Worse was when he used the cover of chakra smoke to have them change into floor tiles or the ceiling, having them transform back at the perfect time for an ambush.

Heero's learned himself how to both expand the Armor of the Tortoise, and how to reshape the Claws of the Tiger. Bringing his fingers together would turn the five small blades into a single large one, as wide as his hand, and the added width allowing them to hit when he would otherwise allow an enemy to dodge. They also learned that no matter how you touched the blades, they still cut, even if what you were slicing at didn't appear to be an edge. Luckily, the unfortunate person to learn this was one of Naruto's clones when he tried to leap onto the wide blade, only to have his feet torn to tattered shreds, before dispelling.

On the third week of their training, the five were happy to find Neji wishing to join them. They allowed him of course, and his first session was a five on one match against him, one he won with surprising ease, dancing through Sasuke's guard, and then paralyzing him, before tossing the younger shinobi into Shikamaru, who found his shadow technique stopped by the body, only to then be stiffened himself by the older boy's gentle touch. Hinata didn't stand a chance, as she knew she wouldn't, her fluid, water technique unable to come close to actually breaking his solid, rocklike guard, while he let her crash against him like a wave against a shore, and then shut her down with two quick jabs.

Naruto, despite his advantage in numbers fared very poorly against the elder Hyuga, who always seemed to know exactly which one was the real Naruto, despite Hinata and the others of her clan assuring them that Shadow Clones were indistinguishable from the original. Of course, Neji knew this, and also knew that Shadow Clones were more mental copies, than physical ones, taking on the appearance of the clone maker using them as they knew themselves to be. That made it easy for him to slip a small magnet onto the original Naruto's person, in such a way that he hadn't noticed, and the technique failed to copy it because he was unaware of it, allowing Neji to always know which one was the ture opponent.

Heero stumped him for a while. The Armor prevented him from simply paralyzing him as he had done to the others, but the young Yuy-san's speed had been improving with all the training. Whereas before he had moved like a normal person weighed down by heavy metal armor, now he moved like a ninja...weighed down by heavy metal armor. The difference was still extreme, and made it hard to dodge him, but then Neji made a discovery. The armor came out of Heero's tenketsu points like a geyser of chakra. This geyser left a small gap right in its center, as long as the Armor was skin tight, so miniscule that one couldn't see it if it wasn't right in front of them, but just enough that precision strike rendered the boy paralyzed, though still unable to be attacked as only the nerves in his body were disabled, not his chakra network itself.

This total rout caused the other five to look up to the young man, who, being a branch family member, if one of excellent skill, was not used to such accolades. Even in his class, where he was top of his game, and where it was widely known that he was the most skilled user of the Gentle Fist style of his generation, he was still looked down upon by a few. Most didn't care, of course. To them, he was of a clan, and that meant status, and more importantly he was skilled, but even those had a doubt in the back of their mind, always thinking that maybe he wasn't as good as they thought he was, and maybe he would one day be surpassed by the heir of the main family. To have said heiress sitting there, hanging on his every word as he critiqued her stance, like he'd done when they were children, was very gratifying for Neji.

So they trained, pushing each other harder, faster, stronger. Their bodies became the weapons known as shinobi, and their spirits became the free flying hopes and dreams of the young. Hizashi reported everything about the matches to his brother, of course, who would then summarize them for the Hokage, Itachi, and Kakashi, all of whom listened to tales of children displaying skills far beyond their years. Each fight seemed to grow more complex, and with Naruto, an almost unending wellspring of chakra, able to use an advanced medical jutsu to recharge them, they fought many times a day. At some points, the Hokage had to wonder what sort of people they would grow up to be, fighting the way they did, but he always smiled as he heard Hiashi report on how they acted at meal times, breaking bread, sharing jokes, and above all being children.

Then the break passed, and the five plus one returned to the Academy. Soon, the five in Class B dominated their peers. No one could touch them as they fought like demons, a comparison that sometimes seemed to make the teachers nervous when it was applied to Naruto, not that any of the students making the statements noticed. Still, they had to admit, the results were just fantastic, and every teacher was placing bets one which of the five would be the first to get to each ninja rank, from genin to jonin. Some had even started a pool based off which of the ones might becoming Hokage one day, with Sasuke being the stand out favorite as he showed both power, great control, and the fact that he would one day awaken his Sharingan, despite said fact not being true in every member of the Uchiha clan.

More noticeable to some though was Neji. Always at the head of his class, if only for his kekkei genkai, he had improved so dramatically over the month long winter break that the teachers were having to dream up more difficult scenarios for him to fight under. First against two other students, then against three, then limiting him to only his martial skills. And yet it did not stop. Where before at least one of his class could take him down from time to time, either someone using weapons or techniques that used ranged attacks, or by just being Rock Lee, who was hands on the best taijutsu user the Academy had seen in at least a generation, and was going to be Might Guy's apprentice when he came of age, at least according to the pair, who would often launch into declarations of their admiration for the others skills.

Still, even his might was unable to penetrate the barriers Neji threw in front of him. Either his arms would move with such suddenness that it was impossible to get between them, or he would simply not be where you thought he was a second ago. Every fight against Neji ended the same way, with his opponent on his butt, and Neji standing there. He didn't try to earn animosity from this though. Instead he was always there to help his fellow students. Offering a hand to help them rise, and then walking them through their stances to improve their own speed. That one student was able to start bringing his fellows up with him was a marvelous thing for the teachers of the Academy, and they thanked Kami that this year might not end with just one team being selected, as had been the case for the previous five years of the Academy.

Time moved forward, as the other students, seeing how good their classmates had gotten drove themselves harder, pushing either their families to teach them more of the ninja arts at home, or just doing research on such things if the family were not known to be skilled ninja. Everyone found a niche and stuck to it, while those who found themselves overwhelmed decided to pull out, going back to the civilian life that was full of far fewer hurdles. Soon enough, the summer had arrived, and Class B, which had started out with over thirty students, had been pared down to just ten. Each one had grown into a ninja though, sharpened to a razor's edge, and able to do things that would have seemed like magic to a normal person. Better, this constant give and take of training seemed to have created friendships that the teachers knew were the kind to last a lifetime.

Over the summer break, and at the insistence of their remaining classmates, the five and one, became the ten and three instead. The ten were everyone left in Class B, their skills enough now that they could keep up with the five who had been so dominate throughout the year, while the three were Might Guy's team, Neji and his two teammates, the boy known as Rock Lee, who was quite simply the best taijutsu user in the village barring only his sensei, and Tenten, a girl with the eye of a hawk, and the weapons of an army. These three tended to watch, along with their sensei, but every once in a while, it would become a ten on three brawl, as the young class tried to take down the three elders. It tended to turn into a chaotic melee when that happened, with the younger students abilities being so eclectic a mix, while the elder genin simply showed off better team work, often isolating a single opponent and taking them down, before moving onto the next.

Parents were invited to watch, along with the Hyuga who now made a habit of going into the training room whenever they had a free moment, just to see the kids fighting. Many commented on Naruto's creative use of clones as healers when they saw it, as the boy's near bottomless well of chakra allowed him to recharge his friends, allowing for the matches to go on for hours, even when their teachers knew that such things should have been beyond the younger generation. Some, like Sakura's civilian parents, were more thankful for the invitation to the Hyuga clan compound, and barely seemed able to follow the matches, despite their best efforts. Others, like Shino's parents, would often just sit there, impassive until the matches were done for the day, whereupon his mother would run up to him to congratulate him, while his father would give him a much more subdued congratulations as they made their way home.

Even Fugaku, a normally somber man, seemed to light up as he watched his heir grow in power. He had selected Sasuke as his heir, over his brother who had indicated he had no desire to lead a single family, and wanted to guide the village itself to power. Fugaku had always, somewhere in the back of his mind, resented his eldest son for that, as the boy's strength would have given the Uchiha even more power within the village, but as he watched the fights, he came to see the wisdom in Itachi's course, as the students his son had been teaching for two years became a fighting force on par with any he had seen. Many a conversation were being had between the heads of the Hyuga and Uchiha clan regarding this behind closed doors, about what this could all mean for Konoha, but few things could ever be agreed upon between the two, and they tended to leave angry at some slight they believe the other had made against them.

Soon rumors spread, as they tended to do. Though only immediate family had been invited to the Hyuga compound, every member of that clan knew of the matches, and that allowed the news out, if a bit garbled. Apparently there was a new fighting force of veteran shinobi being trained in secret. The Konoha Thirteen, who's skills would surpass even the legendary Sannin. It was said they could cut through mountains, part seas, and take cannon blasts from battleships straight to the face, and still go on. The Hokage, at first, tried to suppress the idle chatter, but Itachi actually encouraged him to let it spread. After all, while a few words would slip, the sheer amount of rumors regarding the children made it all but impossible to find out the truth, and what was more believable? That Konoha had thirteen students who were growing in power like stars shooting into the heavens, or that Konoha was training a new fighting force?

So the rumors spread. Iwa, Kumo, Suna, and even Kiri heard the news of Konoha's new strength. Some in the halls of power in those villages began to feel threatened, but none would challenge them. Konoha was already first among the villages in strength, and they all knew it, so instead of wasting resources on an attack, they merely increased their own power as each saw fit. Some outside the villages heard the rumors, and had their suspicions about the sources, but they were either too wrapped up in their own worries, or had plans already in motion. In the shadows some things moved, most merely to stay well away from Konoha's borders, others to strengthen a wall between them and the Land of Fire's ninja village.

So the summer turned to Autumn. The Ten and Three became the Ten, as Might Guy took his team on their first C Ranked mission. Meanwhile the Ten were forced to return to the classroom, Itachi reminding them that though they were now skilled, they were not yet graduated. He made sure the next year tested each and every one of his students, pushing them even farther than they had thought possible. Teams and bounds were forged, as combat practice focused on group tactics now. The class divided into teams, which Itachi seemed to take a perverse pleasure in changing on a daily basis. Sometimes it was a single student against the class. Sometimes one side had to rely only on their taijutsu, while the others could use any skill they desired. And then came weapon training, which revealed something interesting for the class.

Heero, who's armor still tended to be a trump card in any fight, had rarely showed off his claws to his classmates, but when it came to weapons training, he enjoyed carving his way through every sword, staff, kunai, and chain the others could muster. No mortal forged steal could stop his claws, though he was always careful to avoid hitting his classmates with them. It was discovered that if a weapon was charged with chakra, it could resist those shining white blades, but only a little. It would slow down his swing, but never stop it, so the class mostly learned how to dodge him, getting around him as his kekkei genkai slowed him enough that even Choji could run circles around him now.

The training in teams forged bonds, strained friendships, and began to teach the children tactics that they were otherwise ignorant of so far. They fought hard, trained harder, and they learned from the older generation, taking each lesson to heart. Soon enough, Autumn gave way to Winter, which then gave way to Spring at last. When Spring had finally arrived, Ten young shinobi took their graduation exam, and as a one, they passed. Everyone had high marks, with Class B averaging out to have the highest ranking of any class in the Academy's record. So Ten youths were thrust onto the scene, and decisions needed to be made. Team assignments had to be arranged, parents had to be contacted, and Jonin had to be tapped to be sensei to the youth. The Academy was over, now began the life of shinobi for those would would one day be known to every corner of the Elemental Nations.


	13. One Rainy Night

It was raining in Konoha. A rare thing for this time of the year. It made life miserable for those on the ground, as they tried their best to stay dry. Luckily, night had fallen quickly, and many had been able to retreat to their homes, away from the pounding waters falling from the sky. Only a fool went out in this weather, which meant the ANBU patrols had been increased, as they crisscrossed Konoha's length, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Some, training by Kakashi, would stop in their routes to help one or another citizen with their lives, aiding an old woman in getting bags to her home, or helping a man find his child, who had decided to stray far from home. Those of Danzo's ROOT did not do these things, their eyes sometimes straying to those who did, and then turning away with a scoff.

The gate guards, too, could not rest. Though many of them were not as attentive as they might have been, their eyes were all facing outward, all watching the five sets of covered torches that, even in the rain, illuminated the area before the village, allowing them to see at least a hundred yards out. They were, of course, amusing themselves in the rain, playing cards, which they idly tossed into a pot, while moving hands around to try and make the best combinations. Only when a shadowy form came to the edges of their vision did the men look away, for an instant, checking each other for weapons and armor, before the two in charge this night came to the edge of the overhang, naginata's pointed towards the sky, while their fellows behind pointed them right at the visitor.

"I think that's far enough," said the head of the guard, and the figure stopped, so they could see them better. The figure was a lone rider, on a single horse, the looked positively drenched. The mane and coat appeared to be dripping enough to fill a bucket, and as the rider pulled the horse to a stop, it tossed its head about, drops hissing as they hit the flames. The mount was a lovely roan, they could see that easily enough as the rider expertly turned the mount, and then threw back the cloak they were wearing, to reveal a lovely woman, and one whom they had been expecting all day.

"You are late, Jonin Yuhi," said the man to the woman as she stared at him. Her red eyes seemed duller than the last time he'd beheld them, though that had been some months ago during her last assignment out of the village.

"This weather is not conducive to travel, as you would well know. Am I granted entry?" she said irritably, flipping the hood of her cloak back on. The men looked towards their leader, as he made a single hand sign. While not a full ninja, the guard leader was able to sense chakra, and scanned the one before him, looking for any sign of jutsu that might be used to fool his senses. Finding nothing, he nodded towards his fellows, and they swiftly moved towards the barred gate, knocking on it with the ends of their spears, hollow things that produced a very unusual sound.

"You are welcomed in Konoha any time. For now, the Hokage left orders you were to come to him the instant you arrived. I believe he is still in the Tower," he said this as the great gate creaked slowly home, with a sound like a great monster's jaws opening wide. Kurenai just nodded, clicking her tongue as she took her mount into the city, the eyes of a dozen ANBU on her after her first step, several moving on ahead to give warning of the woman's coming to those gathered in the Hokage's Tower.

Of course, the Tower itself was still awake at this time of night, as a group of men met. All were of a rank that they might have simply spent this rainy evening in the comfort of their own homes, goodness knew the Hokage's tired old bones could use the rest. They couldn't rest though, as they went over the forms, again and again in front of them. Many questions needed answers before the next day dawned, and if they had to be here until the sun broke through the storm and laid it's golden head upon the mountains again, so be it.

"I just don't see what else we can do," said Kakashi finally, leaning back in his chairs and rubbing his eyes. Beside him, Itachi nodded gravely.

"Ten graduates, it is unusual for an Academy class to have two full teams pass, let alone three and one to spare," said Itachi, going over the records of the previous years. Some classes, of course, had every potential ninja fail, leaving a blank year for the teachers, some would have a single team pass, usually those dragged along by one of the members. But ten? That was highly unusual, and for the most part, a sign of great fortune for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was also a very large problem as genin teams, and ninja teams in general, tended to be three member affairs. Normally you would just fail the lowest member of the class, force them to repeat a year so they could find some classmates with skills in the next batch, other times you would simply slot the spare into a team that lost a member, but in the last three months, not a single position had opened up.

"Can't fail Kiba, his pack would throw a fit, considering he passed the written exam, barely, but aced the physical. Hinata, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji are all clan heirs, to fail them would bring dishonor on us, and some very frightening talks with their parents. Ino has to pass, since Shikamaru and Choji are, that leaves Heero, Sakura, Naruto, and Shino," said the voice of the instructor as he rubbed at his eyes a bit, trying to blink away some of the sleep that had entered them.

"Heero and Naruto are not an option. Those two would refuse to be separated, fail one, and the other would refuse to go, leaving us with one less Genin, rather than one too many. Shino is an option, but I don't think the Aburame would feel right if we failed their boy. Sakura is too well known among the civilian population, to fail her would be to tell them only those born to us could be ninja, and that could cause riots," said Hizashi as he got up from his seat, pouring himself another cup of coffee. He offered the pot around, getting a few to hold out their cups to be refilled, before he retook his seat, and they began to go over the names again. Each time, they came to the same conclusion. None of the Ten could be failed, and yet, not a single team had an opening, so they were left just spinning their wheels.

Just before they were about to start again, there was a knock at the door, and Itachi, being the closest, opened it to admit an ANBU wearing a wolf mask into the room. He said nothing to the men, and instead raced to the side of the Hokage, whispering into his ear for several seconds, and getting the old man to start a bit, before he rose to a standing 'awaiting orders' stance. The Hokage quickly motioned for the ninja to leave, and just before Itachi could latch the door shut behind him, Sarutobi stopped him with a gesture.

"It would seem that our final Jonin instructor has arrived, so why don't we wait a few moments and let her come," he told the gathered men, who all seemed to stare at each other at the news. All of them knew who he was talking about. Kurenai had returned from her extended diplomatic mission. A year and some months she had been absent from the village, doing one last mission to make sure she was ready, and to give the two boys she called otuto-kun, her 'little brothers', time to develop into fine, strong ninja. They all knew she was going to be in a foul mood this night, having been gone for so long tended to put even the most nonplussed ninja in a bad way.

Down below, in the garrison at the Tower's bottom, they were proved right, as a few civilians came up to her, to take her horse, and got the sharp side of her tongue when one made a wrong move towards the beast. She said he was named Faran, and was to be kept in a good stable, as he was a gift to the Hokage from the King of the Land of the Shadows, a man named Treize. They were quick to fall over themselves to comply with her instructions, especially not to touch the horse's shoes, at least until she returned later. Once that was done, she made her way to the Tower with a deliberate slowness, climbing the stairs with a purpose as she tried her best to dry out from the pouring rain. At the door to the Hokage's meeting room, rather than his office, she straitened her hair, and then opened the door. Inside were men, all of them. She recognized the faces too, and knew what the group had to have been discussing. These were the two jonin instructors for Heero and Naruto's class, as well as Itachi, Kakashi, and Sarutobi himself.

"Ah, I see the weather got to you too. Did you enjoy your mission?" asked Kakashi in his sing-song voice. The response he got, had he been a normal man, would have been a deadly one, as Kurenai's kunai flew so fast that the other men in the room didn't even see her arm move. Luckily, Kakashi was far from a normal man, and easily moved his head out of the way, the weapon sailing past him, and burying itself into the wooden wall up the hilt, with an echoing dull thunk.

"It went that well, huh?" joked Kakashi, at least until one of the tips of his hair fell off, the strands separating into a small shower of strands, which gave his one eye a very worried look. Ignoring him, Kurenai went up to the Hokage's seat, and bowed respectfully to him.

"I bring you greetings of King Khushrenada, of the Land of the Shadow. He sends his best wishes, and desires trade with your fine nation," she said in a rehearsed manner. The Hokage quickly offered her a drink of some steaming tea, and a seat, both of which were gladly accepted.

"Excellent news then. Before we bring you in on our meeting, why don't you give us the details?" asked the wold man in that kindly way of his. Sitting there for a moment, seeming to absorb the heat from the cup in her hands, she took a deep breath, and began. The men in the room, most of whom had only found out about this land, far to the west, past Earth and Wind when the Hokage had assigned Kurenai to visit it, listened with rapt attention.

"The Land of the Shadows is, as we had been told, a land like Iron, with no ninja to speak of that I could find. Instead of Samurai though, they rely on their relatively distant position to the Elemental Nations to keep the peace," she began, blowing on her cup to dispel the steam, and then draining the thing in a single gulp, before holding it out so that Kakashi could refill it.

"They have great technology there, on par with what I have heard the Land of the Sky did back in the old days, before..." she let that statement hang in the air. Sky was a sore spot for many in the room, as it was a relatively isolated place that Konoha had destroyed a generation ago for rising above themselves. At the time, it had seemed necessary, but hindsight said otherwise.

"I saw a flying machine while there, and the armor they use in combat. These armors, twice the height of a normal man, both protect, and enhance the wearer, allowing them to break boulders, and cut down a mounted man with a single slash," she said this while pulling out a book from a hidden pouch on her robes. The book appeared blank at first, but a single hand sign from her allowed the men to see the many intricate drawings on the pages of these mighty armors.

"More, they have medicine the likes of which I have never seen. They raise mushrooms in the darkness of their hidden land, that come in a variety of colors. I saw a man, nearly torn in half, eat one with a sickly green hue to it, and within seconds he was fine. Another, a man I would estimate to have been no more than a fifty kilograms on the outside, ate one with a red top, and moved a pack that I knew weighed at least twice that," this news came with more pictures, of several different mushrooms, with colored tops and their effects listed out besides.

"King Khushrenada said that these would be the trade goods, for good steel from our nation, as well as consideration in future dealings with other nations," she told him, and the Hokage nodded, wondering just how much they would have to trade away for even one of these miraculous fungus. He said nothing though, as Kurenai passed him the book, which he flipped through a few times, before opening a hidden pocket in his own robe, and shoving the thing inside for later.

"Excellent news indeed then. Which of course, brings us to the business before us," he said this, and pushed a set of files towards her, letting her read through them for a few minutes, before turning back to the Hokage.

"All of these numbers, they're real?" she asked, and the old man nodded, her red eyes reflecting something from deep within, the shock of this news, before she kept on reading, finishing with Heero and Naruto's files, before setting them all down.

"Ten fine ninja for the Leaf. I don't see why this would be a problem," she said, and the men nodded.

"The problem is teams. I don't have any current Genin squads with openings, and even if I did, these kids are just too powerful for most of those that we currently employ. We can't fail any of them either, to do it to any of them would be political suicide in one way or another," explained the Hokage.

"Then make a four man team," was Kurenai's sudden answer, and the men just stared at her, dumbstruck.

"And how would that work?" asked Kakashi after a few seconds of just sitting there.

"Give me Hinata, Heero, Naruto, and Shino. I'm sure I can my otuto can handle themselves, and Hinata seems to be among the more powerful of the group in the class. I'm sure I can teach her a level of chakra control that even the Hyuga can't match," as she said this, she breathed on her tea again, this time getting a small gout of flame out of her mouth, as she used a sealless Katon jutsu, one that heated the tea to the perfect temperature.

"That's three, but why Shino?" asked Hizashi.

"I see here, neither of you broke Heero from his fear of bugs," she said, pointing to the file for the boy. Though he could be found hanging around Shino sometimes, it had been noted many times that Heero's fear of insects remained, and that Shino's insect techniques were one of the few ways the class had found to always get around his guard, the sight of the things sometimes causing the boy to freeze up if they were too sudden.

"While the Aburame clan is one of the few larger clans that use such techniques, they are not the only ones. More importantly, control are what he and Hinata need the most training in, both the Gentle Fist and the Kikai techniques revolve around such skills. Heero can use the skills to farther his abilities as well, and if Naruto could be trained to stop wasting so much chakra, he would be a force of nature," she explained, and all five men in the room just looked at each other, before the Sandaime burst out laughing.

"And here we were, arguing for hours about this, and she comes up with a workable solution in minutes. Sometimes I wonder why I never offered you my job," said the old man, as the others let out sighs, and then the planning of teams began, as each Jonin in the room went over their plans for the following day's testing of their new pupils, as well as how they would train them later. The next day, Konoha would be made stronger than ever before, as three new Genin Teams took to the field.


	14. A Jonin's Test

"So, who do you think will be on what team?" asked Sakura of Ino as they looked around the class. Most of the others were sitting there, too nervous to talk, but the two girls at the back decided to break their own tension with a bit of gossip.

"Well, I already know I'm gonna be stuck with Lard and Lazy," commented the white haired kunoichi, motioning towards the pair, who were sitting off to the side. Choji was, as always, eating, this time from a bag of chips he'd brought in with him. Shikamaru looked like he was napping in his seat, but both girls noticed his eye open ever so slightly at the sound of his name, before it closed again.

"Yeah, that's not fun. Ooh, you think I'll be on the team with Sasuke?" asked Sakura after thinking about it for a moment. Ino just shook her head. She didn't see what Sakura saw in that boy. He was a bit withdrawn, sure, but he wasn't the broody sort that most girls loved. He was also a total hard ass when it came to the matches, heck, he'd used the final tests just to bump himself up to the top rank in the whole class.

"If you do, that means you'd be on dog boy's team too. Is that really worth it?" asked Ino, and Sakura seemed taken aback by the revelation. After all, it was common knowledge that the best, and the worst, tended to be paired up on Genin teams, to balance them out. Looking down over the class, Sakura studied the two boys, Sasuke, sitting there, his face a stone mask, showing nothing, while Kiba seemed to be really asleep, given his snoring.

"Totally worth it," whispered Sakura, before the door at the front of the class opened, and Hizashi, Itachi, Mizuki, and three others walked in. The three, a woman and two men, wore no standard uniform, but all had the head protectors to show off that they were ninja of the leaf, and lacking the vest, well that tended to mean that these would be the Jonin instructors, causing the entire class to fall quite, as Kiba was awoken by Akamaru kicking his ear with his foot, and Shikamaru just sort of popped up.

"Alright students, it's time for the next phase of your training. Today you will be assigned a Jonin instructor, and your team numbers. It took us all night to come up with this list, so you lot better appreciate it," said Itachi with a sly grin on his face, before motioning towards the ones beside him.

"First team, Team Seven, Jonin Instructor, Umino Iruka, the Barrier Ninja," as he said this, a very kind looking man stepped forward, a set of three scars on his face forming a star shape that looked like he'd only barely avoided getting his eyes cut out. The class, respectfully, kept silent as the man gave them a bow.

"Team Seven's members will be, Inuzuka Kiba, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke. Please step forward," the three students got up as their names were called, and then walked towards the front of the class, Sakura trying not to grin back and Ino as she stood between her teammates, and bowed deeply to her new sensei.

"Thank you for agreeing to teach us," the three said in unison, accompanied by a bark from Akamaru, before they all turned, and stood at perfect attention, facing their classmates.

"Second Team, Team Ten, Jonin Instructor, Sarutobi Asuma, Master of Blades," as he said this, another man stepped forward. Where Iruka was warm and inviting, this guy seemed a bit more laid back. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else right now, and a cigarette in his mouth formed a small pillar of smoke coming from his head.

"Team Ten's Members will be, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino," as this was said, each of the named students rose from their seats and walked to the front of the class, without Itachi's prompting. One could hear a whispered, 'troublesome', but you couldn't be sure if it was coming from Shikamaru or Asuma. Regardless, the three stood in front of the man, and bowed deeply.

"Thank you for agreeing to teach us," they said, just as the others had, in unison, as they had been told to do.

"Third team, Team Fourteen, Joinin Instructor, Yuhi Kurenai, Mistress of the Mind," at this, the only kunoichi stepped forward, grinning at the four remaining students, all of which wondered who would be left behind.

"Team Fourteen's Members will be, Hyuga Hinata, Yuy Heero, Uzumaki Naruto, Aburame Shino," he said this, and several eyes turned a bit wider as they faced him. The four, of course, needed no prompting to rise from their seats, surprise showing on Hinata and Heero's face, while Shino was impassive, and Naruto seemed too excited to really care, as he rushed down to stand in front of her.

"Oneesan, it's great to see you again," said the blond boy to her, and she smiled at him, while rubbing her fingers through his hair.

"You too, Naruto, but isn't there something you should say to me first?" she asked, and then Naruto seemed to remember where he was, bouncing back to stand with his three teammates.

"Thank you for agreeing to teach us," said the four, Naruto and Heero a bit faster than the other two, before they leapt forward, and hugged the woman. The teams were then taken by their Jonin out of the Academy. Iruka lead his team towards a training ground, urging the kids to keep up with him as he leapt through the town. Asuma, meanwhile, seemed to just be strolling lightly as he took his group towards a restaurant he liked in town. Kurenai was in agreement with Asuma, though she took her group to a cafe on the side of the village, instead of a full restaurant. Here, she took a seat, and had everyone order drinks, before they got down to the business at hand.

"So, I'm sure you're wondering why there's four of you in this team," she said at last, as she sipped at a cup of tea. The students, trying not to react, just nodded at her.

"The truth of the matter is, it's a case of politics getting involved in the Academy. Normally, when a class has too many graduates, the extras are either sent to an older team that has a vacancy due to promotion or injury. If no teams are available, then you simply hold back the last student in class for a year, and let them get a bit better, before making them Genin," she explained this, as the students began to understand.

"Politically, we were a class of mostly clan heirs, failing one of us would have been a sign of favoritism, as there were certain members that simply couldn't be cut," said Shino, finishing the thought they were all having.

"Indeed. To cut any of the heirs would have been problematic, yet each of the other options had their own problems. Since I already have a connection to two of you, it was my decision that I could handle a four man formation," she told them this as she drained the last part of her cup, and gently set it back down int the saucer.

"As such, I expect each and every one of you to give me your best. I'm putting my reputation on the line with this team, and if any of you fail to live up to the expectations of the village, or myself, I will make you regret it," as she said this, her red eyes flashed, even in the bright afternoon light, causing her Genin to swallow a little, before nodding solemnly.

"Good, we have an understanding. Tomorrow morning, report to Field Twenty-Two at eight a.m. sharp. There, I will see what I have to work with, and we shall begin to plan out both our daily schedule, and how to go about making you the best damn team in Konoha," saying this, she made a single hand seal, and vanished. Not even the kawarimi could make one do that, as it would leave an object of equal mass in its place. She, however, was just gone, causing her students to stare at the spot where she had been.

"So, that was your Oneesan?" asked Hinata, setting her own cup down in front of her.

"Yep, and she's just as good as I remember. She'll be able to teach us loads of tricks. She's the master of genjutsu, and I bet she could kick the butt of anybody in the village if she set her mind to it," said Naruto with a note of pride in his voice for his 'big sister'.

"Interesting," was all Shino said as he pushed his glasses back up his noes. The four stayed at the cafe for a while longer, discussing things of about the school, and their thoughts on the coming trails from Kurenai, before everyone went their separate ways. Heero and Naruto decided to go to bed early that night, rather than train. Shino had dinner with his parents, his father encouraging him to keep up with his schoolmates, while his mother heaped praise upon him for passing his class, while encouraging him to bring his squad over some time. Hinata meanwhile spent a large portion of the night in her clans training hall, her father running her through the basic stances, and then testing her himself. As was predictable, she lost the fight, with the older ninja wiping the floor with her. He still complimented her technique though, noting that she did better than last time, before allowing her to go to bed.

The next day found the rising sun at six a.m. greeting a set of four new Genin on training field Twenty-Two. They had arrived almost to a minute, and spent several hours working with each other, planning things that ranged from group strategies involving all their particular skills. From Hinata's eyes, Heero's claws, Naruto's clones, and Shino's bugs, every resource they had was put on the table. They began to run through various scenarios, making crud pictures in the dirt in front of them, and moving rocks and sticks around to represent forests, mountains, and a dozen other things besides as they went from retrieving a single document hidden in a base camp, to assaulting a mountain fortress. Heero even threw in fighting giant monsters with giant robots, one of his and Naruto's favorite shows having that be a major feature of it.

Six turned into seven, and finally eight, as the students stood back up, each staring towards the village with expectant eyes. Less than a minute later, Hinata tapped out a signal on her thigh with one arm, causing Naruto to crouch down as he gathered up chakra into his body, focusing it inside himself, gathering the stuff into a tiny ball in his chest. Without saying a word, he released that pent up ball of power, allowing a wash of chakra to spread over the area, which soon blew away the image of the trees in front of them, the genjutsu projection shattering beneath the onslaught. When it was cleared away, a woman was standing there, possibly having been there for a few minutes, but not much more, and her eyes seemed dazed, the normally wickedly sharp reds, dulled to an almost pink hue for several seconds, before she was able to shake herself from her doldrums and stand up straight, staring at them.

"Hmm, a chakra pulse, just like I taught you," she said as she came to her senses. The Genin in front of her didn't react as she chuckled at their form. Obviously, they had learned a few basic signals in class, and had come up with a few non-verbal ones of their own.

"A chakra pulse is the best method of dealing with genjutsu that's being used to conceal an opponent. It will not only disrupt the illusion, but since a concealment genjutsu is anchored to an opponent's own chakra points, it will forcefully rip the illusion away, disorienting the foe for several seconds," said Naruto in a text book manner. Of course, for anyone but him, that answer was wrong, as pulses like that tended to be draining affairs. Even the one he'd just made, of only about twenty meters, could have seriously crippled a Chuunin's chakra reserves, and even some Jonin couldn't have hacked it. For Naruto though, there wasn't the slightest sign that he even felt the drain on his chakra as he stood there.

"An excellent point, and an excellent maneuver," she complimented, as she motioned her trainees into the center of the training ground. There, she stood for several seconds, looking them over with her once again crimson gaze. Whatever she was looking for, she seemed to have found, as she nodded to herself, and then reached into a hidden pocket in her robes, pulling out a small figure.

"Alright then, you've passed the first test, in near record time I might add. So I'm going to give you the second now, and you had better pass it, otherwise I'm going to have to send all four of you back to the Academy to train for another year," she declared this, and expected it to affect them somehow. Instead, they just stood there, awaiting her commands like good little ninja. She wasn't sure what to make of that, considering she hadn't seen her boys in almost a year, but she silently complimented Itachi and his fellow teachers for ingraining in those two the same stoicism that had already been a part of Shino and Hinata.

"In my hand, is a token. It's just a simple little thing, carved of common jade. I want you to take it from me," she said, holding the thing closer to them so they could clearly see it. The green thing was in the shape of a mahjong tile, with the Leaf emblem carved into the nearly translucent surface.

"Are there any restrictions on what tactics we might use?" asked Shino.

"I would have to say none, though I do intend on living to a ripe old age, so you might want to go easy on me and avoid a killing blow," she said this, and got a series of nods. Then Shino started snapping his fingers. It had to be a code of some sort, though it wasn't one she recognized as everyone on the field nodded. Then Hinata started to snap as well, Shino going faster as she did, as if they were having some kind of argument, at least until Heero snapped once, cutting them both off.

"When do we begin, Kurenai-sensei?" asked the silver haired boy, bowing towards her in respect.

"Any time you want," she told him with a smile, leaping away, slipping the tile into one of her hidden pockets, and landing a good twenty meters from her previous position, expecting them to leap at her the instant she said that. Instead all of her new genin leapt away themselves, putting almost thirty meters between her and them, as the snapping resumed. Oddly, Heero did not join in with it, before he made an odd looking hand seal, covered by Naruto's body so she couldn't see it.

"P-2-R!" shouted Heero finally, and then dropped into a crouched battle stance. Watching him, she kept a wary eye on his compatriots, trying to make sure he wasn't a distraction of some sort. Then red chakra surged out of his body, the Genin uniform he wore taking on an odd, bloody coloring from the stuff.

"Speed of the Phoenix!" he screamed, and then vanished. Kurenai was aware, somewhere in the back of her mind that a breeze passed by her face, and then she turned around to find Heero there, smirking at her. Before she could really process that, a huge explosion went off in her ears, while a force like a train seemed to slam into her, disorienting her and tossing her backwards. If she had kept looking she would have seen Heero's eyes roll back into his head, only for his green uniform to vanish in a puff of smoke, replaced by Naruto's orange one. A single ram seal, and she was faced with twenty of the blonde boy's forms charging from that position, her own body flying right into the group of them. All of this took a single heartbeat, and made the kunoichi proud to have helped start these boys on this path.

Not that she made it that easy for them, twisting in the air in the way only a true ninja could do, and bringing her foot down on one of the copies faces. Luckily, as the report had told her, he could only make a few of those super clones, and so her foot popped the first it came into contact with, and the rest she dealt with using only two thrusts of her arms, tossing needles in a rain over the position. Unfortunately, none of the Narutos were real, the twenty popping as soon as they were touched by the simple weapons, leaving her alone on the grass as she turned towards the position of the other students. Her eyes were able to lock onto Hinata and Shino, as well as behind them, a Naruto escorting an unconscious Heero from the battle.

Quickly she thought up a dozen strategies that would have disabled all of them at once, but decided to give them a fighting chance, and instead bolted forward, moving so fast that she might have seemed to vanish. The team was ready for her though, as the instant she got into range, Hinata leapt towards her, her fingertips shining in that way only the Gentle Fist style allowed. If even one of those blows was allowed to connect, the chakra in the fingers would flow into her, sealing up her own chakra network, and possibly even paralyzing her, so Kurenai didn't allow that touch to happen, instead grabbing Hinata's wrist and then spinning on her heel, causing the girl, who had been overbalanced forward, to go tumbling, even as her foot swung upwards, becoming a brace on which she could hold the Hyuga heir, leveraging her momentum into a powerful kick that sent the white eyed girl flying into the nearby trees.

Kurenai, before she had even finished the backflip she'd used to toss Hinata, spun in the air again so she was facing forward as Shino, a group of three Narutos came at her. They struck as one, Shino's feet going for her knees, while the Narutos tried for a one-two-three combination attack, designed so that if she dodged any of the other two strikes, the third would definitely hit her. Of course, that sort of strike required that she was in the same position when they reached her, but instead of striking her down, the kunoicih pulled out the needles again, flinging two at each of the Narutos' knees, the joints locking up around the hits, and causing all of them to tumble forward. The heap of limbs tangled themselves around each other, while Shino charged onward, his fists held in the mantis position as he got within range, and tried to power through her defenses.

Of course, the mantis style of taijutsu was not without its flaws. Every blow from that stance had to be prefect, cutting down the foe with sharp strikes like the insect for which it had been named. If even one strike failed to hit home, you would leave yourself open to a counterattack, and as Shino struck, he found himself striking at only empty air as Kurenai simply hopped over his attack, and then made a single hand seal in the air. As she landed, she sent chakra from her hand, into the ground, while her voice rung out with the attack name. The doton jutsu was a simple one, her will grinding the earth and dirty into a slippery bit of oil, a puddle of which formed from the point she'd touched the ground at, and the slick spreading quickly. The three Narutos, just starting to pull themselves apart, found the stuff lapping at their position, and suddenly the ground held no traction for them, causing them to get swamped back together, and then pushed away until they slammed into a tree.

Shino, meanwhile, found his stances could not hold up, as he first tried to back away from the growing puddle, only to find that it seemed to follow him as he got farther away, finally hitting his feet, and causing him to slip right out from under him, landing on his backside with a splat sound. Kurenai was on him in an instant, and manacles of earth sprouted out of the dirt, holding him firmly against the ground at his wrists and ankles. He, of course, tugged against them the instant they were on him, but he found the bindings as solid as stone, and began to snap his fingers again, telling Kurenai that this fight wasn't over. She was proved correct when two dozen Narutos charged from the trees, some of them using the substitution jutsu to somehow teleport towards her, a feat she would not have believed if she had not seen it, as she had to block dozens of incoming blows.

Each strikes was almost flawless, like the clones could see through each others mind. She idly wondered if he might have picked up a technique that would allow that, as she seemingly effortlessly dodged through the series of attacks, turning a punch here, blocking a kick there, like she was a dancer working through a routine. Said routine soon allowed her a moment to strike back, her left foot colliding with a Naruto's jaw, sending him flying backwards, where he bounced on the ground, then rose up. He didn't even seem to feel the welt growing on his fact, and instead jumped right back into the fray, making her wonder just how powerful these clones were, so she tossed them aside with a single wind technique, and struck again, this time deliberately aiming for the clone she had struck at first. To her surprise, this time the clone just popped, at the barest touch of her fist, turning into a cloud of smoke around her.

That was incredible. Naruto had apparently learned how to create clones capable of taking a single hit. That must have required a control of his chakra usage that, while not that incredible as it was probably still more than a Jonin used, it meant he was getting better. Before she could really consider the implications of that, the other clones attacked again, recovering from her gale force wind blow away, and resuming their attack. What's more, even more Narutos came from the woods around her, adding more fists and feet to the melee around her. Sighing, she decided to end this, and pulled out a single kunai from her pouch. Rather than throw the thing she leapt upwards, the Narutos staring after her, not sure of whether to follow, or to let her land.

She didn't let them have the chance to decide. The whole point had been, of course, to get their eyes on her. The gaze of the clones was caught easily, and with a single hand seal, the Mistress of the Mind cast a genjutsu. A trained ninja might have closed their eyes, or thought to turn away, but Naruto was despite his power, still just a trainee, so his gaze never wavered, his stare connecting with her red eyes. Chakra rushed out of those orbs, a wave of the stuff colliding against the clones, who all seemed to waver on their feet, and then collapse onto the ground. Some popped as they fell, their chakra already depleted by the fight, others created a racket as they snored.

Kurenai, satisfied with the result, landed amid the pile of bodies, and turned towards Shino. As she had expected, one of the clones had used kawarimi to switch with him. She didn't let that bother her though, as she focused inward, and then outward, letting her senses expand to fill the clearing, and then move into the forest. The Byakugan and the Sharingan might be able to see around solid objects, but far too many ninja seemed to forget that you had other senses, other ways to track down your target. Listening to the forest, she heard the sounds of the animals around her, and then, after a few seconds, she could hear it. The subtle bamf noise of more clones being created greeted her ears, and the kunocihi smirked to herself as she opened her eyes again, before rushing forward.

The trees exploded with a hundred more Narutos, and some Shinos, Heeros, and Hinatas as well, all with their eyes closed. Not that they seemed very impeded by the lack of vision as they charged forward. They did only seem to move in small groups, rather than attacking all at once, maybe five at a time, and their movements a little stilted. Still, every one she popped was instantly replaced by another, the flow of combat coming easily to them. She didn't give them any sort of chance this time though, plowing through the middle of their formation, and doing several rapid spinning kicks into them. None of these clones were more than the basic type, so they exploded satisfyingly with every strong blow, and she entered the woods around the training area as the last of them fell to her.

She leapt into the trees, and then used the limbs to vault herself faster than her legs normally could, landing amid the four Genin with her kunai drawn, even as they prepared to leave their hiding spot. Shino was still a bit slow, thanks to his earlier fight with her, Heero was unconscious, and Hinata seemed to have hurt her back, probably having slammed hard into one of the trees when she was tossed into the woods. Naruto was the only one still up at one hundred percent. As such, he drew his own kunai and charged her while the other two grabbed Heero and tried to make a break for it.

Kurenai gave them only a second before she began to go through hand signs. First a raiton, her fingers crackling with lightning as she touched the tip of Naruto's blade, sending a pulse of electricity into him that made him slump to the ground. She then did a simple doton technique she released through her feet, quickly liquefying and then hardening the ground beneath the feet of Hinata and Shino, trapping them. She was on guard for any or all of them to disappear in a puff of chakra smoke, but surprisingly, none of them did, instead, the two trapped in the earth tugged at their ankles for a second, trying to free themselves, before gently setting Heero on the ground, and turning their necks to face her.

"We acknowledge you caught us. We well not try to flee anymore," said Shino, and Kurenai smiled again. She knew far too many genin that might try to keep fighting in this hopeless situation. That was, in fact, the point of the test. Some fights were unwinnable, and you had to be able to recognize them. The mission always came first, in every hidden village, but in the Leaf there was no honor in throwing your life away. After all, bad assignments happened. A single piece of flawed intelligence might...her thought train derailed as she allowed her students release from the ground, and Naruto rose to his feet. Her thoughts weren't derailed by that though, instead, they were derailed by her hand going to first one pocket of her suit, and then another, looking for the leaf tile.

"Looking for ~cough~, these?" asked Naruto, coughing out a bit of steam as he held out his hand, revealing the five jade tiles she'd had hidden on her body. Obviously, that was going to require some explanations.


	15. Missions and Bets

"Alright, I believe it's time you four walk me through what happened," said Kurenai, sipping at her tea. She'd taken them to the same cafe as yesterday, the proprietor being a friend of her's, so she'd gotten him to open up just a little early for her. She had planned to bring them here, of course, but she'd also planned for the training to last until at least eleven in the morning, not to be over in five minutes, and for them to succeed.

"What did you want to know, sensei?" asked Shino as he sat there, right across from her, and in the middle of the team.

"When did you get the tiles from me?" was her first question.

"Oh, that was me. When I used Phoenix to make that sonic boom, I kind of riffled through your pockets on the way past. Hinata was the one who saw there were five of them though," commented the silver haired boy.

"That clicking code, thinking back, it seemed random, and no where near complex enough to be a language. You somehow were talking to each other, correct?" she asked next, and the four nodded, three of them. all but Heero, pulling at their collars, and revealing a single blue beetle sitting on the inside of their clothing. Heero himself tried to look away, either embarrassed that he didn't have one, or just not liking the sight of the things. Or both, perhaps.

"These are special insects from a holy land in the west. My clan makes use of them, sometimes, as alarms, as their wings make an awful racket when they are removed from either water or a chakra source for long. My father discovered, however, that when you allow them to grow together, their wing beats synchronize, and if one moves, the others move with it. In such a way, they can actually be used as transmitters, of a sort, though their range is limited to a hundred meters or so," explained Shino, and Kurenai nodded, her mind reeling a little with this information. Most squads developed techniques for trading information quickly, without talking, but if Shino's bugs could do what he said, her squad was at a serious advantage there.

"We determined that Heero's speed would allow him to grab the tiles, and then Naruto and he could flee the battle. We did not understand why there would be more than one, but I believed the best course of action was to simply take them all and escape. You thwarted the second stage of that plan, as I underestimated your abilities," said the kikai-nin, with a respectful bow of his head towards his jonin sensei, who laughed to herself.

"The point of the test was actually to see if you would keep fighting a hopeless battle. Each tile has small cuts in its surface so that I can do this," as she spoke, she pulled one of the tiles off the table, and then snapped it into a dozen pieces, turning into into the consistency of fine sand, which she then let go into an errant breeze.

"You were to try and get the first, which I would smash just before you could. I was then to offer you a second chance, and then a third when you failed there. I hadn't expected you to go through my pockets, or to be able to move that fast," she admitted, as she sat there, staring into her cup.

"Then we did the impossible?" asked Naruto, a hint of eagerness in his voice.

"Heh, in a way, yes. Of course, don't take that to mean you would pass a second such trial as easily. I only had notes to go on about your abilities before. Now I have seen you in action first hand, and would not underestimate you," she informed him, and that bright, shimmering look of pride behind his eyes faded a little.

"After acquiring the tiles, Naruto switched his clone with Heero, and then the clone made other clones by dividing it's chakra between them. We had hoped this would delay you for the time needed to escape. When that failed, Hinata and I tried to cover the escape," continued Shino.

"Why did Hinata attack me first?" asked Kurenai, remembering the order of the events.

"Honestly, I had believed my Gentle Fist style could paralyze you before you could catch us, and we could actually take you prisoner. I suppose I was overconfident," admitted the Hyuga heir, her gaze turning down, and Kurenai reached over the small table to put her finger under the girl's chin. Raising her face up, she could see a bit of shame in those white eyes, shame at her own lack of skill, shame at her overconfidence, shame at her underestimating her sensei, or some mixture of all three.

"You still did better than most. And remember, I knew exactly what those glowing fingertips meant, not every ninja does. In that fight, superior intelligence on the enemies abilities made a huge difference," she explained to the girl, who seemed to brighten up a bit with the words of her sensei.

"So, then I took out the Naruto clones, and Shino charged me. After I took him and some of the clones out, Naruto had more attack me as a distraction. Tell me, how did they teleport like that though? Space-time jutsus are among the most advanced techniques, and I know for a fact that their not part of the Academy's curriculum," she asked.

"Well, the clones are just made of chakra right? We use kawarimi to switch position with something else, locking our chakra onto it and just sort of popping between the two, right?" asked Naruto, and Kurenai nodded. That was the basic form of the technique, it was also why you tended to use logs or the like, living things to do the switch. It required it, or so she had thought.

"Since the clones are _made_ of chakra, they don't have to have something to lock onto other than just some of the stuff, and it's in the air around us, right? Living energy sort of thing? So I figured, why not just switch them with the air itself? It took me almost six months to make clones capable of doing it, and still be good in a fight, but I think it paid off," he bragged a little, and Kurenai had to agree. The ability to teleport like that, as long as there was chakra in the air, would be almost godlike in some hands. Of course, it would also require being close to sources of great chakra, so the places beyond the Elemental Nations would be a bit harder to use the technique in, but with a little practice...

"Alright, after that, I noticed these clones were different in more ways than their ability to just randomly teleport. Namely, they could take one hit a piece. How did you discover that?" she asked this while putting down an empty tea cup, and Heero refilled it without thinking from the pot in the middle of the table.

"That trick I knew about that first summer. Most people don't have my bloodlimit, so they don't have enough excess chakra to create more than a few clones, I think Kakashi said at most he could make five at a time, and that was exceptional. I could make a lot more, even back then," he explained, grabbing a cookie from a small dish on the table, and quickly downing it with a single swallow.

"Anyway, I found I could make clones just like me if I used enough chakra to make a hundred or more on just one. But the more I make of those, the more draining it is. Like it starts at a hundred, but the next needs two hundred, and then three, and then up again. Since I couldn't make a whole squad of me's, I tried to just put a bit more into each one, and found, putting enough chakra for twenty clones into a single one, I could make one able to take a punch or good smack," he explained, and she nodded at his reasoning. She also tried not to show a reaction to his thoughts on how he had so much chakra. Most of the children of his class thought the same, or so the reports she'd read said. It wouldn't do to dispel that illusion, at least not until they were older.

"So, you made a few clones like that to send against me, while you recovered Shino and Hinata, and then tried to escape. I must admit, you would have gotten away if those clones had been of second variant, rather than the original kage bushin," she admitted, both to herself and to her students. Had they been like that, it would have been impossible to tell that the originals weren't mixed in with the group, limiting the techniques she could use against them, and giving her students enough time to exit the training grounds.

"Heh, Shino suggested that when Hinata saw you coming after us, but I didn't have enough left in me right then to make too many of the second level clones, so I just made as many first level as I could, and we tried to run," conceded Naruto.

"Excellent work then. If I hadn't had knowledge of your abilities, you might have been able to make good on that escape," she complimented them, seeing each of their faces light up at that.

"However, never assume that any opponent you fight is ignorant of what you can do. You must always be on guard, and have a good grasp of both your own limits, and your enemy's. That is one of the first rules of being a Ninja of the Leaf," she told them solemnly as she set her teacup down, and then looked in the sky. This training was supposed to take all day, a few hours at least until they caught her that first time. To have them succeed at what was supposed to be a training about learning failure...well, it made her task of training them to be even better more daunting than it already was. She hoped, deep down inside, she was really ready for this, and sighed as she turned back towards her students.

"I was going to start us on missions tomorrow, but seeing as how we now have almost the entire afternoon free, why don't we go to the Hokage's Tower and accept our first mission, just to get your feet wet?" she suggested, and all of them leapt to their feet, their cups and plates quickly cleaned off, with Naruto pocketing the remaining cookies for later. Smiling at her squad, Kurenai left a few ryo on the table for the meal, and then motioned for them to follow her.

Almost half an hour later, they were standing in front of a home. The place appeared to be a little run down, with numerous shingles on the roof having cracks or just being missing. Beside the home were two green houses, as well as a large garden. This home belonged to one of the Leaf's many herb growers, not one of the largest, but still one that supplied many pharmacies, as well as the Tower itself with the plants and medicinal herbs that went into the making of things like soldier pills. Odd that it would be so worn down, but then, the owner of the home came out, and it was obvious why. The man was on crutches, his left leg in a cast that went all the way from the toes, up to his hip.

"Ah, finally, someone from the Tower accepted my mission," he said as they approached.

"Hello sir, you must be the owner of this home, and yes, we accepted your mission," said Kurenai as she drew nearer to him, and bowed slightly, a show of respect that her Genin mimed.

"So, who do we fight?" asked Naruto, his eyes going all around, only to get a swift smack to the back of his head by Hinata.

"Baka, didn't you read the request back at the Tower?" she asked, and then motioned for Shino to pass along the paper. The taller boy did so, allowing Naruto's eyes to quickly take in the words on it, before he went rigid.

"So we're just repairmen then?!" he demanded to know, a statement that got even Heero to rub the bridge of his nose in annoyance at the attitude. Interestingly, it was Shino who didn't seem to be frustrated by it, stepping past a rather perturb looking Hinata to stand in front of him.

"Our rank is Genin, not Chuunin, Jonin, or Kage. As such, we must handle those tasks as our skills are up to. To prove our skills to those above us, we must make the Leaf stronger, and we do so by helping the village and those in it. Only after we have shown we can strengthen the Leaf, can we be allowed to show how strong it has become," he stated simply, and Naruto seemed to think on this for a few seconds as he passed the mission paper back to the other boy, and then finally nodded.

"Okay, so let's make this the strongest Leaf in the world, what do we do first?" he asked, eagerly throwing himself into the mission now. Shino clicked his fingers together, and as Kurenai had expected, she could hear whispered words coming from his mouth. Suddenly, Hinata stepped forward, and her eyes flared, veins appearing along their sides. Her gaze went slowly over the compound, taking in details that no one else could see, before she stepped back, and began to snap her own fingers to cover whispered words.

"Heero, how long can you move at increased speed?" asked Shino after a moment, and Heero almost fell back from being startled by the words. Luckily, he caught himself on the mailbox, and then focused inward, his hands going into the odd inverted Bird Seal, before he turned towards Shino.

"A few minutes, and then I'd need Naruto to give me a recharge," he said, and Shino nodded, before clicking his fingers together again, the sound of a series of snaps filling the air, before Naruto nodded, and then went into the house. When he came out, there were over two dozen of him, all jockeying for position, before they started off down the streets of Konoha, all separating and going their own ways.

"Naruto will handle the deliveries for us. Hinata and I shall tend the gardens, and you can repair the roof. I assume you have experience at that?" asked the older boy, and Heero nodded.

"Naurto and I have been doing that since we were eight. I'll have this thing patched up in ten seconds flat," he declared, and then crouched down, his body soon flaring out with the red chakra, before he declared the movement, and vanished, stacks of shingles on the ground, as well as a ladder, a hammer, and some nails, all seemed to vanish at once, as a blur began to move over the roof, everywhere it passed the gaps and cracked shingles vanishing behind it.

"This would be easier if he'd just wear the beetle," declared Hinata as she and Shino made their way into the back. The garden, once tended with love and care, still showed signs of it, even if several parts of the once straight rows of herbs had become broken and stilted. Shino and Hinata stood at the garden side for a few seconds, before Hinata flared her eyes again, and then whispered into her collar, not even doing the snapping to cover it. Shino, nodding at her voice that only he could hear, reached down and let a small trail of bugs out of his jacket, the kikai working their way into the garden like a small line of ants. In seconds though, it was obvious what they were doing, as various other bugs began to swarm out of the herbs, being driven out by the ninja insects.

After that was done, the two began the work of tending the garden, taking the precise amount of effort necessary, no more or less. Each action was measured out so they got the most benefit for it, and even the gardener seemed impressed as they went, straightening his beloved herbs, and making the garden look fresh and clean. In only a few minutes, their work was done, the plants now in perfect rows again, and each one watered to perfection. Even as they finished, a blurry form joined them at the garden's edge, staying well away from Shino as he recovered his swarm, and soon an orange clad boy fell out of the sky, landing lightly beside his teammates, and assuming a ready stance before his sensei.

"I believe this job is completed as ordered," declared Shino as he rose, and took his place beside Hinata in line, and Kurenai and the gardener went over their work. Naurto had delivered all the waiting orders, the roof looked good, not professional grade, but still a far sight better than it had been, and the garden itself was nearly immaculate. Looking at her watch, Kurenai was forced to keep her eyes in check, as her team of four had just done in ten minutes what should have taken at least an hour's work.

"Fine work, my young friends, fine work indeed. It almost makes waiting a week for someone to take my request worth it just to see you attack the task with such vigor. Gives a man hope for the future of his village," said the man, looking over their handiwork, a bit of awe in his voice, as he went back into his home. For her part, Kurenai smiled at her students, and then led them back to the Tower, taking another mission the instant the first was turned in. Then another when that was finished. Then another. This pattern repeated itself for five hours, during which time her team completed almost a dozen missions, and would have done more, as Shino noted, had they been allowed to take multiple missions at once.

"For today, I think that's enough," said the Jonin as they stepped out into the late afternoon sun, turning to her students. Behind her were four children covered in the dirt and grime that came from a hard day of work. Oddly though, none of them were slouching or otherwise showing that they were tired. In fact, it seemed that Naruto wanted to keep going, his eagerness obvious in his face.

"Tonight, I'm going to request that each of you work on your chakra control exercises, and then meet me in Field Twenty-two at eight a.m. for some team training. After that, we'll see how many missions we can do again," she told them, and the four bowed to her, before they started off towards home. She watched them each make their way home, the two boys taking to the rooftops, while Shino and Hinata took a more dignified strolling pace through the streets, both of them seemingly having the day catch up to them as they took their time.

The very moment they were out of sight, Kurenai, who had been waiting for five o'clock, bolted from the scene. Her pace was such that she would appear to be a red blur along the roof tops, scattering a few birds that took to the cool evening air as she raced along the city, until she came to a halt right outside a bar. Stopping just long enough to brush herself off, and straighten her hair, she walked inside. The place had just opened, and already it was near capacity, as Chuunin and Jonin gathered here, sipping at drinks, and many recounting stories to each other of missions or times long past. She took only a second to spot the pair she wanted, sitting at the bar, one with his head smacking repeatedly into the counter, while the other just leaned back, puffing on a cigarette.

"I see you two must have had a similar day to mine," she commented as she walked up to the pair, taking the seat to the side of Iruka, who finally stopped banging his head, and looked at her, his forehead showing that he had been doing that since the barkeep had let him in.

"You mean one where your Genin are mutants, and do things you couldn't have done at that age, if at all?" asked the famous Barrier Ninja, getting a nod from the kunoichi as he sat up in his seat.

"That's the day alright. So, what tests did you go with?" she asked, holding up a finger, and soon having a bottle of sake and a small cup placed in front of her to mirror her compatriots.

"I decided to stick with just them fighting me. It took everything I had just to keep them off balance, every trick and skill, and even then I only barely won. These kids should just be made Chuunin and get it over with," admitted Asuma as he sipped at his drink, not even bothering to remove the lit cigarette from his mouth.

"I went with the bell test, an old stand by. Get them to think only two of them can pass, and then see if they come together. I had to use a dozen barriers just to keep Sasuke contained. Kiba was even worse, he was so fast I finally had to resort to laying trap barriers, and even then it took four in a row to finally catch him. Then it all turned out to be a ruse as Sakura snuck up behind me and snatched the bells. I wanted to smack them by the end, but I have to admit, they were good," said Iruka, as he just picked up his bottle and took several swallows from it.

"Heh, I used the old tile test on mine. Didn't even get to break the first one, they snatched all five from me right away, and then proceeded to try and run," she aded to the pot, and all three nodded.

"What is wrong with these kids?" asked Asuma at last.

"Nothing's wrong with them, it's just with Naruto's help, they trained harder. Did you ever get to catch one of their matches over at the Hyuga compound?" asked Iruka, and Asuma, who'd heard rumors about something like that, but had never bothered investigating, shook his head.

"Naruto knows a medical jutsu that lets him transfer chakra to others. I don't know when he picked it up, but he used it liberally in those matches, to keep everyone fighting for hours at a time. When you can just keep going when even the adults would fall over exhausted, it only makes sense that you would improve yourself exponentially," explained Iruka, the other two, neither of which had ever watched one of the matches, just nodding to each other, before they grabbed their own bottles, and took long pulls on them.

"So, now what?" asked Asuma as he set his drink down, watching with some interest as Kurenai kept draining her's until it was half gone before finally letting it go.

"We train them. They're great fighters, and already know squad tactics well. Given even a little push, I'm sure they'll be as great as the Sanin were back in their generation," said Iruka, and the other two just looked at him, before remembering the skills the kids had shown off in their tests. These children were exceptional, and not all of that was just special training. Each one had talent for the work of a ninja, and each had been perfecting their roles for as long as they had known them. The Konoha Thirteen rumor had called this generation, and they would go on to live in infamy. Asuma finally set his bottle down, and watched, a little awed, as Kurenai continued to drain her's for a few swallows, before putting the half empty bottle back down.

"So, did you start them on missions yet?" she asked, when she finally set the bottle back down, and the two men nodded at her.

"I gave them the old, Catch the Cat mission, since the Fire Diamyo's Wife's cat had escaped into town again. I remember when my team took that mission the first time, it took us almost four hours to find the thing, these kids did it in two," responded Iruka.

"I asked for something a little more physical, and found a mission to tear down one of the old houses outside the wall of the village. I had hoped to see what the kids were capable of, and I got my wish. In three quick jumps, Shika was able to use some shadow technique to lift Ino and Choji off the ground. Then Ino tossed Choji even higher, before the kid did that Bullet Tank Technique and smashed into the building like a meteor, demolishing it in a single move," added Asuma.

"I had my students running ragged over the town for five hours after they passed the Tile Test so well. In that time they did everything from gardening and delivery, to chopping firewood for a potter, to filling in potholes. Eleven missions in all, and they wanted to do more, but the Tower was out of D-Ranked missions for the day," she said simply, and then smirked at the reactions she got. Iruka had been sipping at his drink, but a sudden intake of breath caused the ninja to just start coughing, forcing him to pound at his chest, while Asuma's cigarette flared a little as he sucked on it, reducing the thing to so much ash that fell into a tray he suddenly had in his free hand. After recovering, Iruka's coughing fit subsiding and Asuma pulling another stick from somewhere, they turned to her.

"Are you going for the record?" asked Asuma as he took a short drag on the new cigarette to get it flavorful.

"I wasn't originally, but now I think I am. I was going to see if either of you was up for a wager too, but seeing as how your teams aren't doing nearly as well, I think we can safely say you'd lose," she said, sipping at her sake, and causing the other two's faces to go through a series of emotions, from anger, to shame, to a little bit of pride in the Leaf, and finally, to acceptance. They of course, knew what she was doing, goading them that way, but neither one was going to give up on a challenge like that, no matter if it was just basic psychological warfare.

"Most missions in the first week, not counting today, and we see if we can beat the Sannin's number?" proposed Iruka after a few moments, holding up his bottle. Asuma and Kurenai looked at him, then at each other, before banging their bottles against his.

"It's a bet. We'll work out terms once it's over," said Asuma, before guzzling down the rest of his bottle, and then getting up. He had a few home visits to make now, so he might actually have a chance to win this one. Iruka and Kurenai, for their part, stayed in the bar for a few more hours, before heading home, their minds spinning with plans on how to make the most of their time with their Gennin for this week.


	16. Records Unbroken

The next morning dawned, and three teams of Genin met their senseis to learn that they were going to be worked to the bone over the next week with missions. The stated reason by the three Jonin was that they wanted to really push the kids to be the very best that they could be. The actual reason was of course, the bet they had made the night before, with each Jonin wondering what boon they would ask of the other if/when they won. Still, the morning practices were informative for the young ninja, as each Jonin went over group tactics, in one way other another, and began to show them just how much they had left to learn, running the kids through their paces before the eleven o'clock hour struck, and they were all off to the Tower of the Hokage, and their first missions of the day.

Each team hit the ground running, either buoyed up by promises of new techniques, in the case of Kurenai, threats from parents, in the case of Asuma, or just plain pushing them towards being the best, in the case of Iruka. Each team took a job, and quickly established the pace of their work, as by the end of the first hour, each team had done two missions, and it only went up from there. Interestingly, despite being able to throw entire hordes into each mission, courtesy of Naruto, Team Kurenai was not the fastest worker. That went instead to Team Asuma, who's three Genin seemed to function as a single unit, Shikamaru the Planner, Ino the Information Gatherer, and Choji the Muscle. Every job they finished with the bare minimum of effort, turning in slip after slip to the Tower, who refused multiple requests of the teams' Jonin to allow them to accept more than one at a time.

By the end of the first day, with the sun setting, the three teams were about even, with Asuma's Genin doing eight missions, Iruka's a solid seven, and Kurenai's another eight. Each team was encouraged by their respective sensei, each told to get plenty of rest, and given only basic exercises to do, so that they would have plenty of energy in the morning. The Genin weren't fools, however, and each team soon learned of the pace the others were working at, trading stories, and then deciding that, no matter the reason behind it, they all liked the missions, and more importantly that each D-Rank mission completed brought them one step closer to the C-Rank that would allow them entrance to the Chuunin exams.

So they dove into their work, each team now knowing that their pride was at stake, and that there was a record to break. The next day saw all three teams breach the double digits on missions, with Iruka's edging out the competition that day as Sakura, the brains of her team, had the two rather rough and tumble boys doing everything with a bit more efficiency than the day previous. The day after saw Kurenai's team taking jobs of a nature that allowed their skills to shine through, breaking the other two teams totals over their knee as they clawed their way up to the top of the heap, only to find that the following day saw them in dead last due to a botched job outside the wall that had taken them all day.

So the groups did their work, and all over Konoha, life got better. Pot holes were filled in, homes were repaired, animals were caught, and weapons were sharpened. Everywhere the Genin went, you would find smiling faces, save for a few of their fellow ninja who felt the children were doing far too much work, either because they were afraid of them burning themselves out, or just jealousy that there were fewer jobs to pick from. Still, even the harshest naysayer had to agree, the kids were truly something else. The final day of the wager, they went all out, finishing up with one three team job that involved repairing the Tower itself, a job that had been languishing in the back log of missions for almost a year. And then it was over, and the three teams were brought into the Hokage's office, for a chat.

"One Hundred and Fourteen. That was the number of jobs the Sannin were able to complete their first week as Genin. I would take more credit for that, but in truth, that was mostly Tsunade and...well, it wasn't Jiraiya's work, let's leave it at that. They did everything they could to earn themselves a place in village history, and throughout the last week, you Ten have done the same. I have heard the rumors that the town would literally fall apart if you weren't there to hold it together, and that sort of reputation is something to be proud of," said the old man in the seat, the students swelling up with pride, even as a few of them turned to the others. Some had known that Sarutobi had trained the legendary trio, but for others that information came as a bit of a shock.

"Sadly, some records are almost impossible to beat, and I'm afraid, despite your best efforts, you have not unseated my team from their first place finish, though I want you to understand how much good you have done regardless. Between the three teams, you have accepted and completed two-hundred-fifty-two missions," as he said this, the Hokage pulled out a bucket from behind himself, and then turned it over onto his desk, covering the thing in mission slips, all of them bearing the green stamp of completion.

"This is an accomplishment worthy of the Sannin themselves, and so, I desire to reward you as such," the old man, gratified at the flummoxed looks on the faces of the young, none of whom had really be keeping track of the total number of jobs they'd been doing, swept the papers back into the bucket, and stored it under his desk so the papers could be refiled later.

"In honor of this, I think it's a safe bet to say that you are up to the challenge of a harder mission type, and so I have personally gone over the requests waiting to be selected, and hand picked what I think are missions just right for the skilled Ninja I see in front of me," so saying, Sarutobi made a flourishing gesture with his hand, and three papers seemed to appear in it, all mission envelopes marked with the letter C, as well as a number. Of course, he failed to add that thanks to the Genin's efforts, the D-Rank mission backlog was quite literally empty, and he had been asked by several prominent members of other Genin teams to get those 'mutant freaks' out of Konoha for a while, so other Ninja could make a living.

"To make this fair, I want you each to select your team leaders, and have them stand up, and I'll get you each to select a number in turn," he told them, expecting, as many young people their age would do, to have an argument in front of him, one had could then watch the Jonin deal with, just so he could see how they did so. Instead of harsh words though, each team simply sat there, as three different Genin stood up, one from each. From Kurenai's, it was Shino, standing tall and proud, while to his left, Sakura took center stage, and to her left Shikamaru stood up, looking a little bored with the whole proceeding, yet his gaze never left the envelopes in the Hokage's hand. Seeing this, and waiting a moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled, remembering that first time he'd had to get Orochimaru and Jiraiya to recognize Tsunade as their leader.

"Alright, reverse alphabetical order then. Shikamaru, pick your number," commanded the Hokage, and the boy tilted his head down, as he began to stroke at his chin for several moments, before finally nodding.

"Give us the third mission...Hokage-sama," the last was added after a light cough from behind him, that came from Asuma, whom the Hokage just smiled at as he undid the string on the envelope and passed it to the young man.

"There is a special breed of animal, a deer of sorts, in the Land of Grass that someone there would like to have for himself. The mission requires live capture, so be sure to not injure the thing too badly," he said, and Shikamaru nodded, probably thinking about his own family's symbolic animal, a herd of deer on their land, as he took the mission post, and resumed his seat.

"Alright, what fate do you decide, Ms. Haruno?" asked the Hokage.

"Well...let's go with the first mission, Hokage-sama," she said, giving him a respectful bow, which he returned as he opened the envelope.

"This is a group mission, much like your repair job this afternoon. The boarder between Konoha and Iwa is becoming slightly more active than we would like, so we're reinforcing our patrols there. A senior Jonin is your mission contact, and he will give you your marching orders when you arrive. It might interest you to note that the Might Guy's team is already there, having taken this mission up a week ago," he added, passing the pink haired kunoichi the letter, who took it, and smiled as she showed it off to the other two in her team, who both smiled back at her.

"That leaves you with the second mission Shino. This one's a bit harder on the feet, but still sounds like something you will enjoy. There is a bridge builder, he came in three days ago, requesting that we send him some guards for him and his assistants as they build a bridge out in Wave Country. Apparently a small band of bandits has threatened him, and he thinks he'll be safer with some ninja at his back," so saying, the Hokage passed the final mission post to the Aburame boy, who took it, and then resumed his seat.

"Now that you have your jobs, I will advise that you make ready. None of these missions will be as quick to finish as your previous work, and will require you to exert yourselves even more to complete. Know, however, that Konoha herself has confidence in all of you, and wishes you all good luck," he said this, and the Genin rose from their seats, all of them giving a concerted thank you to their Hokage-sama, before leaving the room, and leaving him with their Jonin instructors.

"So, when did you decide to start sabotaging their efforts?" he asked bluntly, as he reached beneath his desk and pulled out his pipe. He didn't even make a hand seal as he projected a katon jutsu into the tip, igniting it.

"We agreed on that by the end of the third day. They were blazing through their missions at such a speed that we felt if we allowed it to continue they would run the office out of D-Rank missions completely," responded Iruka, who was surprised when the Hokage laughed at the answer.

"If that's the case, you should have pulled them out of this on the second day, as I must report there isn't a single D-Ranked mission left in the backlog. We do have some coming in slowly, but for a while, many of the adult Genin will have to find other sources of income," he informed them, and all three looked at each other, a bit taken aback by the news.

"So, they tied at eighty-four apiece. Even if you were slowing them down, that's still an accomplishment. Have they invested the money they were making?" asked the Hokage, interested in what the young had done with enough money that they could have bought a good sized house in almost any district in Konoha.

"I believe the clansmen have had their money added to the accounts of their families, who have been trying to hide just how much that comes out to. Sakura says her father, being a civilian, has been using the funds she brings in to expand his own business," said Iruka, the Hokage nodding at the news.

"Heero and Naruto are using their money to expand their home. They've already purchased an automatic washing machine, as well as some equipment for their underground training area. If I overheard them correctly, they're looking into expanding the space, so they can train more efficiently there, and out of sight of prying eyes," added Kurenai.

"So they're being smart with their money then. That's good to hear. Some rumors came to me through the ANBU that certain individuals were showing an interest in them for the funds they were making, but if they've already begun using them, they're less likely to be targets," said the Hokage, puffing on his pipe for a few moments, before rising from his seat and going to the window. Outside, he could see the group of young Genin exiting the Tower. Each of them seemed to be celebrating their good fortune, even the usually laid back Shikamaru and stoic Shino looked to be bouncing around as the group made their way into the city.

"I wish all of you the best of luck on your missions, then," said the Hokage at last, turning back towards the three Jonin, who heard the dismissal in his voice, and rose from their chairs. The three bowed respectfully towards the old ninja,before taking their leave, each having their own preparations to make for tomorrow's journeys. Smiling he watched as the kids vanished towards some unknown destination, probably that ramen shack that Naruto liked, and then he turned back to his desk. He had a few more bits of paperwork to do himself before the night was out, and in the morning he would see his son off on his mission.


End file.
